Burning questions: Man arrested for setting wife on fire

Police officials arrest man for allegedly burning his wife over a domestic dispute.

SIALKOT:

Police officials have arrested a man for allegedly burning his wife over a domestic dispute.

According to police officials, Kotli Lodhraan resident Hafiz Azhar, a khateeb at a local moque, burnt his wife Shabnam Bibi over a domestic dispute on August 4.

Sialkot District Superintendent Police (DSP) Saddar Raja Sadaqat told reporters that the accused cleric could not prove his innocence durin the preliminary inquiry of the case. “Azhar had killed his wife by sprinkling petrol and kerosene oil on her with the help of his companions over a fight over his choice to take another wife,” he said.

The DSP said that Azhar had tried to deflect responsibility in court by saying that his wife had been kidnapped and burnt but eventually caved in and told the truth.  Sialkot Saddar police have registered a murder case against his three accomplices Heera, Majid and Aslam for killing local youth Abdullah after kidnapping him by forcibly pouring poisonous pills down his throat near village Akbarabad-Sialkot on Friday. “These men were involved in the previous case,” the DSP said. Further investigations are underway.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2011.