Newly-wed wife shot dead by husband

Neighbours say the sound of the couple arguing ended with a gunshot

ISLAMABAD: A 22-year-old newly wed girl was shot dead by her husband early on Wednesday morning, in her house in Tarnol, outskirts of Islamabad. Neighbours told police that Akhtar Bibi and her husband Niaz Muhammad were fighting loudly. They said the arguments ended with the sound of a gunshot.

They phoned the Tarnol police, who arrived on the spot to find Akhtar Bibi lying in a pool of blood in her room. Muhammad had fled the scene. Investigation officers collected the bullet shell and shifted the body to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences for a post-mortem. The autopsy report concluded that Bibi died from a single that had gone right through her head, exiting through the right side of her temple.

Earlier, her family arrived at the hospital to claim her body after the autopsy, which had been delayed by the doctors in-charge because of “technical glitches”. Bibi’s relatives decided that enough is enough and staged a small-scale protest. The doctors solved their “technical glitches” soon after the protest and went through with the autopsy at about 6pm in the evening.

Both Bibi and Muhammad belonged to South Waziristan and were temporarily living in Tarnol, along with their clan. Bibi was Muhammad’s second wife and they had been wedded for a month. A police spokesperson told The Express Tribune, “Although we have registered a case against Niaz Muhammad, we fear that he may have escaped to tribal areas.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2010.