Four killed for ‘honour’ in Rajanpur

Brother, father of the two girls accused of demanding public lynching before murder.

MULTAN:

Four people were killed on Saturday in the Rojhan subdistrict in Rajanpur allegedly in the name of honour.

Muhammad Saleem, 30, and Sofia, 26, were found dead in the Miyaani village on Saturday.

Muhammad Arif said his son Muneer Ahmed had suspected that his sister Sofia, 26, had an affair with Naveed, 30. “Muneer had tried to convince villagers to lynch them but they had both denied the accusations,” Arif said.

Hussain Baksh, a neighbour, told The Express Tribune that Ahmed had approached him and declared his sister ‘kali’ for having an affair.

Khamesa Khan, Saleem’s father, said Ahmed had met him two days ago and demanded that I kill my son over the alleged affair. “He promised to kill his sister. I refused,” he said.

Sofia and Saleem were later found shot dead. Muneer Ahmed could not be found. Some of the neighbours alleged that Nehal Ahmed, had helped Muneer Ahmed. Nehal is also missing.

An FIR has been registered and police are looking for the suspects.



SHO Nazar Sinjrani said the two men had likely fled to some village in Sindh.

The bodies were handed over to the families after autopsy at the Shaikh Khalifa Hospital in Rojhan.

The second incident occurred in the Shahwali village.

The bodies of Muhammad Zahid, 26, and Naemat Mai, 22, was found on Saturday floating in the Indus River.

Naemat Mai’s father Abdul Khaliq was accused of the murders.

Abdul Majeed, Hussain’s father, told The Express Tribune that Hussain had sent Khaliq a marriage proposal which Khaliq had turned down.



Majeed said Khaliq had then declared his daughter and Hussain as kali over the alleged affair. “He had been calling for them to be murdered in the village square to make them an example,” he said.

An FIR was lodged in the Shahwali police station. Investigation Officer Ghulam Mustafa said Khaliq was accused of killing both and throwing their bodies in the River Indus.

He said the evidence appeared to suggest that Khaliq had called Hussain to meet him and killed him when he did.

The victims bodies were handed over to their relatives after post mortem.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2012.