'No place for violence against women in our society, lives, religion or culture’

Two days after the brutal murder of a 27-year-old woman, Noor Mukadam, in Islamabad shook the nation, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi condemned on Friday the recent atrocities reported in the country against women.

In reference to the horrific crimes committed against Noor and two other women, Saima Ali and Quratulain, the foreign minister stated that he could not express his "absolute condemnation of the recent violence and brutality against women".

He added that “this has no place in our society, lives, religion or culture”, calling for “harder” work for “prevention and for justice”.

Noor was the daughter of Shaukat Mukadam, a former Pakistan ambassador to South Korea and Kazakhstan.

She was allegedly killed by a man identified in the FIR as Zahir Jaffer, said to be the son of a business tycoon, in the posh F-7 area of the federal capital on July 21. According to the police a case has been registered against the accused and an investigation is underway.

Quratulain, a mother of four, was tortured to death by her husband Khalid Umar Memon in Hyderabad on July 15. Memon was the son of former secretary irrigation Sindh, Khalid Haider Memon. The accused has since been arrested by the Hyderabad police.

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Earlier, on July 3, Saima Ali was shot dead by her husband, Raza Ali, after he allegedly opened fire on her and her children. The incident also left the children severely injured.

The hashtags calling for justice for the three women have been trending on Pakistani Twitter, attracting thousands of tweets.

Speaking up against Noor's murder the day it happened, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari stated that, "The barbaric murder of young woman, Noor, in Islamabad is yet another horrifying reminder that women have been & are brutalized & killed with impunity."

The human rights minister further stated that the government was committed to ensuring that no one was above the law and that culprits with influence and power did not escape the law.