Woman, ex-husband gunned down by brother

A man allegedly shot and killed his sister and former brother-in-law in Jaranwala before fleeing the scene. Police took the bodies of the two victims into custody and shifted them to a hospital. Raids to find the absconding accused, who allegedly committed the act for honour.

According to details, 26-year-old Mehboob Alam came to meet his ex-wife, 25-year-old Ayesha Kanwal, at her house on Saturday. Both of them were sitting and talking when Ayesha Kanwal's brother Sajjad also came to the house. When he saw both of them together, he reportedly became enraged and allegedly gunned both of them down on the spot. He then escaped from the house.

Upon receiving information about the double murder, DSP Jaranwala Malik Tariq, SHO City Jaranwala, Inspector Mansoor Sadiq and other police officers reached the spot and took the bodies of Ayesha and Mehboob and shifted them to hospital for a post-mortem.

Taking notice of the incident of double murder, CPO Captain (Retired) Muhammad Ali Zia sought a report of the incident from SP Jaranwala and issued orders for the immediate arrest of the accused Sajjad. According to DSP Jaranwala Malik Tariq, Mehboob and Ayesha divorced one year ago. Her family then remarried her elsewhere.

Honour killings unfortunately remain common within Punjab. In June of this year, a man allegedly suffocated his sister to death with a pillow in Khurrianwala, police said.

Rehana Raiz, 22, sister of Asghar Ali, resident of Chak No. 256/RB, Dhenganwala area of Roshanwala Police Station, was married to Iqbal Tariq Javed two years ago, and she was living in her brother Asghar Ali's house because of a dispute with her husband, police said.

Also read: Woman killed over marriage dispute

During this time, she ran away from home twice. Due to this grudge, his brother Asghar Ali suffocated his sister to death with a pillow while she had been asleep.

After the postmortem, police handed over the body to the relatives of the deceased and registered a case on the statement of Mohammad Riaz, son of Ahmed Ali, and started searching for him.

In another incident, during a dispute in Jali Fatiana, Khizar Hayat and Kashif opened fire and injured 18-year-old Samreen Bibi, daughter of Ghulam Mustafa, and her maternal grandmother, Ghulam Fatima, who were shifted to the hospital where Samreen Bibi died of her injuries.

In yet another incident, Abbas opened fire and injured 45-year-old Naseem Bibi, wife of a shopkeeper, Iqbal, and her 11-year-old daughter, Beenish.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2023.