Islamabad, Aug 7 (IANS): A man and his two sons murdered his wife and two daughters, prompting a Pakistani daily to exhort people not to tolerate intra-family killings and repudiate it at every level.

An editorial in the News International cited the killings in Bahawalnagar in Pujab province where the man in company of his two sons murdered his wife and daughters by axing them to death.

"It is alleged that they killed them because they had 'suspicions' about the relationship that they had with neighbours. There does not appear to be any proof of their suspicions, at least not in the public domain," said the daily.

"Somewhat unusually, the police have arrested the murderers though whether they will ever see the inside of a courtroom and stand trial is a matter of the purest speculation. Murders such as this are a commonplace in our culture, and rarely attract much attention beyond a small mention in the media," it added.

The editorial said that intra-familial killings within the South Asian diaspora are also making headlines around the world.

A husband and wife, both of Pakistani origin, were jailed in the Britain last week for murdering their daughter, "a reaction to her 'westernised' way of life and aspirations".

In Canada in January 2012, three members of a family of Afghan immigrants were jailed for life for murdering three teenage girls and their mother. "Once again they were killed for adopting aspects of western society that male members of the family found unacceptable," it said.

"As the west makes a slow awakening - but a clear and explicit judicial response - to intra-familial murder it is clear that this is one set of cultural values from the subcontinent that is an unacceptable import.

"...The world beyond the subcontinent in countries where the rule of law is observed is rightly intolerant of our least-savoury cultural norm. And our own tolerance of it needs to be challenged and repudiated at every level," added the editorial.