Husband accuses her parents of honour killing, says they did not approve of their marriage. PHOTO:FILE
ABBOTTABAD: A woman who had solemnised court marriage against the consent of her parents was found dead in her parents' home. The police quoted her father as saying that the young mother had committed suicide. Her husband, Amir Pervez however, contested the claim, saying that she was the victim of an honour killing.
According to Bagnotar police, Aisha Salim,21, a resident of Namli Maira Village, gave birth to a son six weeks back and recently went to her parents’ home a to stay with them for a few days.
On Monday evening, she went to her room, and after some time, other family members found her hanging from a ceiling fan.
Her body was moved to Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Hospital, where an autopsy was conducted. The report is still awaited, a police official said.
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The police said that her father, Muhammad Salim, did not offer a motive for suicide.
Her husband Amir Pervez, however, said they had contracted court marriage in 2012 when she was a student at Government Girls College No 2, Abbottabad, but her parents were not happy with their marriage and had severed ties with them.
Pervez, who works at a restaurant in Rawalpindi, said that after their marriage, they started living in Mohallah Kung Kehal and Aisha had resumed her studies, enrolling in an MSc Zoology programme at Govt Postgraduate College, Abbottabad.
He informed that about 40 days back, she gave birth to a boy, and with the intervention of a jirga, Aisha's parents ended their social boycott and the two families patched up, allowing Aisha to visit her parents’ home.
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He went on to say that at around 4pm on Monday, he spoke to her on the phone from Rawalpindi and she seemed happy, with no indication that she was sad or under stress.
However at around 5 pm the same evening, he received the information from his relatives that she had committed suicide.
He claimed before the media that his in-laws had murdered her in the name of honour and were painting it as a suicide.
He demanded an inquiry into the sudden death of his wife. However, according to the Bagnotar police, Pervez has not actually lodged a formal complaint.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2017.
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