Woman, daughter shot inside graveyard

Police believe killing was outcome of lingering dispute over property

LAHORE:

A woman who had appeared to offer prayers at her husband’s grave along with daughter had died in an assassination attempt in Kahna by the unidentified suspects.

Sana Sakhawat was distributing lungar at a nearby darbar while her daughter was sitting beside her father’s grave reciting Quran, when two unidentified suspects reportedly approached on a motorcycle and opened fire at them. Sana died at the scene from her wounds and her daughter received at least five bullet injuries. Sana instantly fell on her father’s grave.

“It was disheartening to see the victim lying on her father’s grave, with blood all around her and pages from the Holy Book,” head constable Chowki Halloki Abbass said. A police team reached the spot on information and moved the body to a morgue for autopsy. The injured girl was shifted to Lahore General Hospital for treatment.

An official shared with The Express Tribune that the deceased Sana lived in Valencia Town and was a member of the Dogar family. He added that the victim might have been murdered by the suspects possibly to get hold of a property. A similar incident had been reported earlier in Chung where a man, along with hired assassins, had slaughtered his brother and his wife after handcuffing them in wash rooms of their house.

They had also strangled their three months daughter to death. The prime suspect in the case of Sana’s murder had allegedly also murdered his father. He said that the pattern of the recent tragic incident, particularly targeting the child, is usually motivated by getting control of a piece of land. If no legal heir is left alive, it becomes easier for the suspects to not only occupy, but legally transfer the property, he added.

Majority of the cases where the whole families especially children are assassinated are motivated by property, police officials said.

CCPO Lahore Fayyaz Ahmad Dev took notice of the incident and sought report from SP Model Town. SP Model Town responded and said that a team has been constituted to arrest the suspects.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2022.