Share this article
Print this page
Email a friend
- RSS
- Today's Paper
- Subscribe
- beta 2.0
High: 33°C
Low: 27°C
Alerts
Wife proves quite ‘handi’ in kitchen for all the wrong reasons
Police find 40-year-old Green Town resident’s husband’s body parts in a trunk.
Zainab had sedated and strangled her husband Ahmed but didn’t know how to get rid of the body.
KARACHI: Zainab tried a new ingredient for Qorma yesterday – her husband.
It was the olfactory insult that brought the police to her door. The landlord, Behzad, who lived on the ground floor of their two-storey Green Town house, was so perturbed by the cooking that he went upstairs to inquire. The scene that met his eyes have left him scarred for life.
The 40-year-old Zainab was cooking Qorma with flesh chopped from her husband’s arm and leg as she figured this was the only way to practically dispose of the body.
The case
For three months, Zainab has been living here with her 17-year-old daughter Sonia from an ex-husband, and her new husband Ahmed Abbas, whom she had married five years ago. At around 9:30am, she prepared a routine breakfast for Abbas but the only difference was the inclusion of five sedatives in his cup of tea. The drugs took effect within half an hour and Abbas was sedated. Zainab brought a rope and strangled him to death.
“When he finally died, I felt shudders of fear for the first time,” said Zainab while talking to The Express Tribune from inside her lock-up at Shah Faisal police station. “I didn’t have the courage to approach his body for the next half an hour.”
However, her mind was working fast to figure out how to get rid of the body. “It occurred to me that if I cooked the body in parts with spices and aromatic ingredients that would curb the stench,” she revealed, adding that, “Later I had a plan to do away with the cooked stuff by throwing it in a gutter. I would say to people that it had spoiled.”
As soon as her landlord had called the police, ASI Gul Muhammad reached the scene, said SHO Khalid Nadeem Baig.
Zainab says that she murdered her husband after he had tried to molest her daughter. She claims she had stopped him from doing so on several occasions in the past. However, she later contradicted herself by saying, “He never laid a hand on her but he used to say dirty things whenever he came home drunk.”
She had saved the rest of the body in a three-foot white aluminum trunk which was later transferred by the police to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a postmortem.
Along with Zainab, the police had also detained her nephew Zaheer Allah Ditta from the house. Allah Ditta claimed no involvement in the crime and asserted that he arrived at the house after a span of eight years.
Zainab had married Abbas, who used to teach Sonia when she was in school, by going against her family. Her first husband died 12 years ago. “After she married Abbas, we had no contact with her and we banished her from our community,” said Sardar Muhamamd, one of her maternal relatives.
The police are looking for her daughter. “Sonia’s statement and her medical examination are very important from a legal point of view,” said the investigation officer, Shehzad Ejaz Alamgeer.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2011.
Update: An earlier version of this post contained a photo of the cooking pot containing the remains of the victim. That photo has been removed after reader feedback and a second review by the editorial staff.
Reader Comments (86)
Latest News
Next fiscal year: Govt likely to keep petroleum levy target unchanged
It will seek to collect Rs120 billion by increasing the levy.
Teamwork: Agri-university and Nestle join hands
Both will enhance cooperation to uplift Pakistan’s agri-economy.
Pakistani auto parts makers to take part in Dubai expo
Automechanika exhibition to host regional automotive aftermarket suppliers.
SECP: ‘Once online forever online’
It was observed that most applicants register their companies online through eServices, but file returns physically.
Setting the record straight: Not all dictators equal, nor all democrats incompetent
Comparing GDP growth rates across all Pakistani rulers in history reveals some surprising numbers.
Recent Slideshows
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, redistributed or derived from.
Unless otherwise stated, all content is copyrighted © 2012 The Express Tribune News Network.
Technical feedback? webmaster@tribune.com.pk
so horrifying!
Recommend
what the hell is going in to our country? No one is on right path (talking about majority)…read this & u will come to know that i m right…
Recommend
Tribune please please remove the above picture, its really against the journalistic norms to show dead person’s cooked meat in a pot..it really a request, please.
Recommend
Terrible incident :s
Recommend
Pakistan: Frustrating people since 1977. Fathers molesting daughters, teens raping peers, molvis sodomizing children, undertakers violating corpses. All point to the same thing, sexual frustration. And the only way out of this constant horror is to let people choose for themselves. A Muslim is not a Muslim if he does not go to a brothel which does not exist. We need to grow up and that we must, for the sake of humanity and sanity at all levels.
Recommend
She was literally trying to cook “Limb Curry”
Recommend
A good job done. Immoral man has paid the price for the henious crime he was committing. Hats off to the lioness mother.
Recommend
Disgusting — but it’s hard to have sympathy for a pedophile..
Recommend
Well done. Bad man had to pay for his excesses. A true lioness mother.
Recommend
Shocked..
Recommend
A woman scorned..
Recommend
In a society like Pakistan, any case of sexual abuse especially against children should be dealt with the strongest punitive action. It is the failure of the justice system that leads to situation like this. The perpetrators of sexual abuse have no fear of law or society. It is time to act and help our society in dealing with the these perpetrators.
Recommend
As long as the police and the courts make a mockery of justice, people will keep taking things into their own hands — either through suicide or through murder.
Recommend
What the heck.. But i think Father like this will punish the same.
Recommend
How disgusting.what is the point of showing this picture…who ever will read this article will understand every thing..no need for this picture…I dont know when our media will learn some ethics…in need of rating they can go as far as one can think…
Recommend
a mother will do anything to save her kid, however the bruatility is an eye opener. wish she would have run off with her kids rather than killing him as reportng in police would do no good
Recommend
It is disgusting. I think the woman isn’t normal.
Recommend
its called retribution.
Recommend
‘Well Done’
Recommend
Wow !
Recommend
Pakistan is indeed in the marathon of WHO DOES THE MOST ATROCIOUS things
we’ve got cannibals,necrophilia and now MISANDRY!
Recommend
oh so gross! Like Saw or something.
Recommend
This looks like something Dexter would do.
Recommend
I wont be able to eat meat for while now T_T
Recommend
There seems to be a sudden rise in cannibalism related crimes in Pakistan. Wonder what is the reason
Recommend
That has nothing to do with cannibalism, she was trying to found a way to get rid of the body without raising any suspicions.
Recommend
@N M Javed:
ewwwwwwwwwwwwww. Good one though.
Recommend
we seriously need some mass psychotherapy campaign, whats happening around… ppl r turning into animals actually worse than animals!
Recommend
@A Khan:
what? u r praising her? what that man did was wrong yes a henious crime but killing him and then cooking his meat is not the solution…. A MASS PSYCHOTHERAPY CAMPAIGN it is… for all of us!!
Recommend
Degradation of Pakistani society can be gauged not only by the heinous crime of both the women and the pervert victim but also by the carelessness shown by the media channel for showing the cooked remains.
Recommend
How one should belive, that the women was right and correct without searching for truth. Even if the man was guilty, as per women claim, still she has no right to have killed him. She could have diverced once again. Why the people immediatly making their minds that the crying women was right. Why not wait for hours or days to know whhat the real story has been there. This is where I feel shame, how our people in this country respect the law and abide by the law.
Recommend
The woman had planned on cooking the rest of the body later……….Recommend
That has nothing to do with cannibalism, she was trying to found a way to get rid of the body without raising any suspicions.Blockquote How can you be so sure ?! =P
Recommend
There comes a point when woman is completely saturated and cant digest more . Men don’t force her to cross the limit of patience ..!!
Recommend
C’mon guys. Do you seriously think thats picture of that same pot?
Recommend
Dont know whats happening to Pakistani people. We are hearing such stories everyday.
Recommend
@Asad A.:
I am 100% agreed with You.
Recommend
These r frustreted people.They needs education and Psychological treatment .
Recommend
I must say that due to the worst nervous system breakdown of every Pakistan People, All of them are going back to Dark Ages about 3000 BC . Cannibalism will make Pakistan such a Sickest Country in world like these people .
I recommend that Parliament should enforce law that any person tried or attempt cannibalism should be given worst Punishment .
Recommend
She has the same dark-passenger which Dexter has!
Recommend
if only there was a law against pedophiles in our country that is also implemented………n the woman have known that there is someone she can go to for help n who will stop her husband from doing what he was doing…………………..if she had that opportunity,she never had killed him……its the lack of laws n justice that people r forced to punish the evil according to their mental levels……
Recommend
OMG! What the hell is going around us. This is so inhuman and insane.
Okay fine, even if she murdered his husband for committing such immoral act, but how the hell on earth can someone cut the body parts into piece and make a curry out of a human flesh!!!!
Thats a DISGUSTING COLD BLOODED MURDER!!
May God show us the right path!
Recommend
She should have sold the meat to the butcher, many of the butcher sell dog and other animal meat to people. Nobody can know the difference, only Allah SWT can save this country.
Recommend
She just wanted some “tharki” for Thanksgiving…
Recommend
What’s so surprising? You cook meat everyday at your home. If it is human meat, you call cannibalism, why? It is racist behavior towards innocent animals.
@Asad: Absolutely right, we are living among sick and frustrated society, we do everything but do not accept it, try to hide in the umbrella of religion.
Anyway, Good punishment.
Recommend
Gross
Recommend
Good job,he got what he deserved.The woman should be be set free or given a lighter sentence,maybe 3 months or Rs 3000 fine.
Recommend
what ,first we found some one in Punjab was eating dead people , then we found people abusing dead corpse at grave yard and now this .When i was small i remember my grandparents scaring the shit out of me by telling these sort of creepy things as signs of judgment days , don’t know about the world , but with signs like these, this country which believes religion is answer to everything, is heading towards Doomsday for sure ..
Recommend
The news would have sufficed. There was no need to show cooked human flesh. Its an example of bad journalism.
Recommend
yeahh! goood job =]]
Recommend
I don’t know why there are so many comments calling this woman a ‘lioness’.. One cannot argue that she couldn’t have left him..clearly she was strong enough to kill him and cut him into pieces and then cook him! It’s disgusting in every way! She should have taken everything they had and left him..save herself and her kid. I am in no way saying that he was a good man.. but again, he’s not here to defend himself and sorry to say but I won’t take a murderer’s word for it. A butcher is a better term to describe her!
Also, what kind of society is this that we’re praising her! This is sickening!
Recommend
I’m more disgusted by the comments I read here than the story itself.. You guys don’t know the truth..for all we know maybe this woman was having an affair with the other guy and they both planned this murder!! What do we know. To see people jump to conclusions and saying what she did was right is absolutely nuts!!
Recommend
Yumm Yumm… check out the color of that qorma.. Mouth Watering..
Recommend
What is wrong with Pakistani Media? So much sensationalism. Why in God’s name are you showing the gruesome pictures of human meat in a handi. Please I thought tribune was better then that.
Recommend
My teacher told me this story and i dug in it. All the people commenting stuff about her being dexter are losers. This aint some drama serial. She’s literally a psychopath. And i also agree with the people who say that there should be a mass psychological campaign. But let me remind u guys that education can cure all these dieases in the society. Plus our media is doing all the effort to show disgusting news and are never portraying any positivity in our country.
Recommend
Hmmmmm, Qorma does’nt look half bad, more like Nihari. Wonder if she had the appropriate garnishings to go with it.
Recommend
Pathetic… there is no humanity left. We are back in the life of heinous people. That time Prophet Mohammad SAW made ppl understand the difference between good and bad. Prophet Mohammad SAW eradicate dor-e-jahliat. Today people have forgotten our teaching :( This world is doomed to disaster. Its a non-trust worthing world with cheap people living in :( Sad but its true
Recommend
@Hameed:
such an insensitive, disgusting, insensible and immature comment
Recommend
@Sara, sorry for hurting your sensitive feelings. What can i say i was hungry.
On a serious note please don’t have such a stiff lip. If the same husband had been guilty of raping her daughter you would all be cheering the woman and calling for the guy to be castrated. I am as entitled to my opinions as you are to yours.
cheers
P.S.
i still think the qorma looks like nihari. Yummmmm :-)
Recommend
ET for god sake have some heart and remove the picture of pots.
Recommend
@Arif Hassan:
Tribute To A Lady Of True Acts
Bro this is the true face of nastiness but it should be exposed to those husbands or to the peoples that are involved in such activities.
Carry on Tribune I am with u heads up to you… !!! __ !!! …
Recommend
@Nouman Younas:
You should be more vigilant now…….
Recommend
I won’t be able to eat lunch and dinner today and may be many years to come… thanks for the picture ET!
Recommend
Well im sure he did more than say dirty words . if he came home drunk im sure he did alot that is what caused so much ANGER for a Mother to save her CHILD .
Well Done . A MOther will do ANYTHING to protect her child from WILD HUNGRY ANIMALS .
Recommend
Equality, Liberty and Fraternity. Its time the guillotine saw daylight again.
Recommend
No one has the right to take the law in his/her hand. Crime is crime it should be condemned.
Recommend
Please guys do not promote it as good job its not good job its a murder.
Recommend
Perhaps she never heard of a social arrangement called “Divorce”. And killing and kooking seemed the only way out of a horrible marriage.
Recommend
Whenever someone rape a girl or say badt things to girls, we often say that guy should be hanged? Now this lady has chopped her own husband in defense of her daughter than we are saying that is not right ??
Recommend
I can’t believe lots of people are praising her for slaughtering a human being. She also claims he never laid a hand on her if you’ve read the whole article. If he did, he did the wrong thing. She could have called the police or talked to that landlord. Murdering someone like this is not normal. If it was a man doing this instead, he would be blamed for being cruel. How the world reacts to such a thing is beyond my understanding.
Recommend
It’s a bad headline, a terrible photo and a horrendous and the worst-in-taste intro. Tribune really needs ethical editors!
Recommend
@ Abdullah Bin Laique….. Its not right ? What if her husband does the same thing which a guy did a village in Punjab.. HE RAPED HIS STEP DAUGHTER WITH HIS FRIENDS…. So would that be ok ?? she was not protecting herself, she was protecting her daughter.. And a Mother can do anything to protect her child. No matter if its right or wrong..I might be emotional or sounds idiot but think from a mother’s perspective….
Recommend
Her mind really worked too fast….!
Recommend
ehat did she eat this with?….fries?…hahahahah
Recommend
Never eating Korma again, didnt like it much to begin with.
Yes the lady could have dealt with it differently, you can’t condone murder, but let me ask you this if she took it to the authorties what would they do?? maybe she just thought justice wouldn’t be served? and attacked in the spur of the moment.. A mother did what a mother thought was right; I wish she didnt take his life though.. sigh her daughter is without a mother now, hope the sentence isnt too harsh.
@Asad: Bravo SIR, very brave of you to say that i couldn’t agree more, travelling in rickshaws and buses (im talking common people) is usually a pain cause they’d lay a finger on your dupatta and jump out of excitment, education is key respect is key whens this nation gonna wake up??!!??!
Recommend
Something does n’t add up. Quite difficult to cut up a person – specially for a lady. Would require special instruments and huge strength. Did she have an accomplice?
Also difficult to suffocate a person who is lying unconcious in the bed with a noose.
Needs proper investigation.
Recommend
Wow, its so refreshing to see varied comments. This incident is a typical example of how there are two sides to a story. We might never know what truly transpired or caused this woman to take such a draconian step. But one thing is for sure this won’t be the last one. As a nation we are doomed
Recommend
Reminds me of “wrong Turn” for all the wrong reasons.
Recommend
She should have made the “Palao” also to get rid of the rest of the body !
Recommend
Kindly dont blame the poor woman for making qorma on her husband’s dead body. She couldnt find a place to dispose his dead body, which common sense tells us, needs to be disposed immediately after you murder someone, so out of utter helplessness, she thought to make qorma.
Plus I would rather call it a gairat qorma, as she did it for her daughter. So if you ask me, I would suggest we should rather appreciate the efforts of the poor woman, who despite being weak, stood up for her daughter and took this drastic step.Recommend
Wow…aloo gosht !
Recommend
while this crime is unspeakable and i have no sympathy for this woman.
You have to understand that as a woman in our society she DOES NOT HAVE access to justice.
Recommend
look at the face of this female butcher. I urge her to be butchered likewise in the public square.Recommend
@ A Khan
Excuse Me … who are you to judge a dead man .. and at the same time appreciating such heinous act.Recommend
Despiste what she has done is wrong, some part of me supports her and feels there must’ve been a valid reason
Recommend
@Vicky:
tree hugger
Recommend