Dangerous liaisons: Marital bliss cut short for newlyweds

Police suspect the family of victim’s first wife may have a hand in the murders.

KARACHI:

A newlywed couple was shot dead in Gulistan-e-Jauhar early Saturday as a result of what police officials say was personal enmity.

The couple - bank officer Arham Jamil and his wife Anila Arham - was travelling home when they were killed in a shoot-out.

According to eyewitnesses, two young men chased the couple on a motorcycle and intercepted their jeep near Kamran Chowrangi early Saturday morning.

They started firing indiscriminately and reportedly waited to confirm that the couple had died in the attack before escaping.

The victims were shifted to a nearby hospital and were pronounced dead. Their bodies were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal formalities.

The couple lived in Block 3, Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

SP Waqar Mallan said the act was not a typical robbery attempt as the gunmen did not make away with any of the victims’ belongings. Sub-inspector Siddiq Abbasi, who has been deputed as the inquiry officer, told The Express Tribune that Arham Jamil was employed at Al-Baraka.

Anila was his second wife and worked at Pakistan International Airlines as a flight attendant.

According to Abbasi, the victims were shot multiple times by a ‘small weapon’. The police have also found empty shells from the crime scene.

According to relatives, the couple was returning home after visiting Arham Jamil’s in-laws. They said that Jamil and Anila were married three months ago, after he divorced his first wife following a dispute.

“The family of Arham’s first wife did not approve of the second marriage,” said a relative. “When Arham remarried, a series of threats ensued.”

Relatives and police officers believe that the family of Arham’s first wife could be behind the incident. However, the officer said that they have to record the statements of the victims’ families as Arham’s family said that they would register a case against the first wife’s family.

The police was waiting on the family to do so; however it was busy with the funeral arrangements of the deceased.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2011.