Militants in Pakistan executed a woman after accusing her of being a spy for the U.S. and a prostitute, and said others would face the same fate, a government official and villagers said on Wednesday.

As I have mentioned before, vigilante justice has become a matter of routine in the country. And in an area as volatile as the tribal areas of Pakistan, where women are deprived of their basic rights and are treated in some areas as second class citizens, the news report mentioned above points to a larger problem. Women are frequently accused of having committed adultery [illegal in Pakistan by law], and are stoned to death, all under the guise of jirga justice.

While this is the first time a woman has been beheaded for having been accused of being a spy, in all probability, she was killed for some unproven crime that she did not commit. And in a country like Pakistan, where women are deprived of access to basic facilities like justice, education and health care, stories like the one above come as no surprise to those Pakistanis who have now gotten used to hearing such stories.

What is required is an overhaul of the system, starting from education, especially in the rural areas of the country, including the tribal regions. Not only that, the state authorities must mete out harsh punishments to those who commit such heinous crimes. Unless it is not drummed into our society as a whole that women have equal rights and status in Pakistan, incidents like these will continue to occur, and unfortunately, they will continue to occur unchecked.