In cold blood: Mystery surrounds woman’s death

Family claims she set herself on fire, locals say her sisters-in-law killed her.

SUKKUR:

Two separate claims – of self immolation and murder – circulated around the death of a woman in Al Kutub Town near Daharki, district Ghotki this week.

According to one account Sajida, who was married to Yasin Malik, had set herself on fire on Monday after a dispute with her husband and his mother and sisters. Instead of a nearby hospital, her family took Sajida to the Rahim Yar Khan hospital instead where she died on Wednesday morning.

Yasin Malik told journalists that his wife had fought with her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law after which she had shut herself up in a room and killed herself. However, sources in the area claimed that there was a fight between Sajida and her sisters-in-law and the latter had caught hold of her, poured petrol over her and set her on fire.

An official at the Daharki police station said that the police had received information about a woman committing suicide. The officer, who chose to not disclose his identity, said that an ASI Nabi Bux Jalbani had gone to investigate the matter but the woman had been buried by then. While he claimed it was a simple case of suicide, informed sources begged to differ.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2012.