For honour: Teenage girl gunned down by brother

Victim reportedly killed for rejecting marriage proposal

LAHORE: An 18-year-old girl was shot dead by her younger brother in Hadiyara on Thursday for reportedly turning down a marriage proposal.

The victim, identified as Iqra Ayub, 18, of Minhala Village, was sitting at home when her younger brother, Usman Ayub, 14, came to the house.

He had a heated exchanged with his sister and subsequently pulled out a weapon. He fired at the girl who suffered bullet injuries and was shifted to a nearby hospital. However, she was announced dead on arrival.

Police took the body to the morgue for an autopsy and collected forensic evidence from the crime scene. They also recorded the statements of the eyewitnesses. Officials said initial investigations revealed that the victim was murdered by the brother because she had turned down the marriage proposal of her family’s choice. The victim was interested in marrying somewhere else.

The investigation officer said a schoolmate taunted the suspect and that flared him up. Police registered a case against the suspect on the complaint of his father and were investigating the matter further.

They said all angles of the case were being investigated. The police would also look into the possibility of the 14-year-old being framed for murder.

In May, a mother, with the help of her son, burnt her own daughter alive in the Factory area for marrying of her own free will. In August, a young man had shot his sister dead in Manawan in the name of honour. The suspect himself was a drug addict.

According to the Aurat Foundation, more than 170 women were killed for honour in 2015 and the figure had already been exceeded by September of 2016. The organisation said this clearly indicated that violence against women and honour killings were increasing in Pakistan. Majority of the cases occurred in Urban Centers, according to data compiled by the NGO.

Professor Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat said Pakistan was a chauvinistic society and younger men consider themselves the guardians of their mothers, sisters and aunts etc.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2016.