Punjab

Mystery ‘murder’: Man shoots girl for snubbing proposal

Victim says attacker was killed during a scuffle with family

Muhammad Shahzad June 11, 2016

Victim says attacker was killed during a scuffle with family. PHOTO: AFP/FILE

LAHORE: A disgruntled man shot a woman and then allegedly turned the gun on himself during a brawl in Lahore on Saturday after the girl’s family had turned down his marriage proposal.

Mystery surrounds the death of 22-year-old Muhammad Ashfaq, whose family claims he was murdered. However, the girl’s family claims the man had showed up with a gun at their house in Kot Lakhpat and attempted to kill their daughter.

Police said Ashfaq, a resident of Changa Manga, wanted to marry one of the girls in the family but the parents had turned down his proposal. He had hurled death threats many times before. The family told police that the injured girl was sitting in her room along with her mother and younger sister, when Ashfaq barged into their house in Tariqabad at noon and started screaming at them. He was carrying a weapon and threatened them with dire consequences.

When the women asked him to behave and talk politely, the man was infuriated and started thrashing the mother. While one of the girls ran away, the other tried to save her mother from the attacker, who shot at her from close range. The girl was shot in the hand.

The injured girl told police that Ashfaq first beat her mother and then tried to kill her sister. She claimed Ashfaq was killed as she and her mother tried to snatch the gumyster, from Ashfaq’s hands.

Police shifted the victims to the Lahore General Hospital, where doctors pronounced Ashfaq dead on arrival while the girl was given medical treatment.

Police registered a case against the family on the complaint of Ashfaq’s family, who alleged the man was murdered. Kot Lakhpat SHO Imran Qamar said both families had a long-running feud over the rejection of the marriage proposal. “The statements from both parties were contradictory that made the matter suspicious,” he added. Investigation Officer Murad Rasool said the post-mortem report would help ascertain whether it was a murder or a suicide case.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2016.

COMMENTS (7)

brar | 7 years ago | Reply @Ali S: I was astonished to know that 87% Lahoris were educated during the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh whereas he himself was uneducated,he got prepared 5000 kaidas in Farsi and distributed to the Nuberdars and ordered them to educate at least five persons in three months and those who failed to do that their numberdari will be confiscated and thischain continued here education means a man who is able to sign was considered educated.

Rizwan | 7 years ago | Reply

Ashfaq was killed as she and her mother tried to snatch the gumyster, from Ashfaq’s hands.

What is a "gumyster"?

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saddened | 7 years ago | Reply @Humza: http://tribune.com.pk/story/1120684/voice-singer-christina-grimmie-shot-dead/ Please start talking some sense. Not everything is because of or among Muslims. Impressionable minds respond to the junk being sold in global media. Clueless parents are however the ones to blame. If they cant bring up their kids correctly, they should not bother having any at all.

Ih | 7 years ago | Reply Do not blame Lahore, Pakistan or being Muslim . This happens all the time in western countries in one guise or other. More to do with psychological trauma social customs its individual interpretation.and how an individual perceives rejection. If news is correct than parents refused may be due to good reason. Individual was unable to cope with that, usually there is a very good support system in Pakistan. But grief reaction to rejection can lead to extreme action as in this unfortunate case

zahid shazada loan | 7 years ago | Reply The government need to raise the age of marriage for males to 24 and for the girls to 21. Also the government must bring in tough legislation on harassment and elopment as well as sex education. The oversexed pakistani men need to control their sexuality along with government appointed molvis to solemnize and register the marriage. This way the government will have control over what is going on. At the moment there is Very little policy on population control or social cohesion - about time these young man (and their families) are severely punished in order to arrest this callous trend.

Humza | 7 years ago | Reply @Ali S: This has nothing to do with Lahore or any other city but such behavior is commonplace all throughout the Muslim world, including Muslim communities overseas. People have to respect individual choice in marriage and life decisions which many cannot. And people like you who want to politicize a social problem have to ask yourself what possible purpose your comment serves.

Ali S | 7 years ago | Reply Why is this happening so rapidly in Lahore only? Shahbaz Sharif keeps building metros but cannot educate Lahoris to give up these barbaric customs.

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