Seeking justice: Woman appeals to IGP for arrest of husband and son’s killers

Gul Nazeera says relatives targeted her family over the rejection of a proposal

PESHAWAR: A woman whose husband and teenage son were reportedly murdered last year by their relatives has appealed to IGP Nasir Khan Durrani to take notice of the matter and provide her justice.

Addressing a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, Gul Nazeera said her nephews and their accomplices aided by her brother-in-law Muzamil killed her husband Ziyarat and son Sohail, 13, in October at her house in Zangali, Badhaber.

Nazeera said Muzamil’s 30-year-old son Saleem had asked for her 12-year-old daughter’s hand in marriage but she and her husband refused which sparked a rift in the family. According to Nazeera, the family was sleeping in the courtyard when Saleem, Munir, Sardar Ali and Iqbal barged into the house and opened fire. Sohail and Ziyarat were killed while other family members escaped narrowly.

The widow further said the accused men fled from the house as her brother-in-law Muzamil had been waiting outside the house.

Making an appeal to IGP Durrani, Nazeera said she registered an FIR against all five men on October 10, 2014 but so far only one of the shooters, Iqbal, has been arrested. He was taken into custody a few days ago. She added she also registered a complaint at the SSP operations office two months ago but to no avail.

“The murderers have sent death threats to me and my children,” Nazeera said, adding the accused had attacked her home several times as they are living in a nearby area.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2015.