Honour killing?: Teenage couple shot dead

Police believe the girl’s brothers killed them as she was betrothed to another man.

MARDAN: A girl and boy were gunned down in Dagar, Mardan on Tuesday, allegedly over ‘honour’.

Zaman Khan, a man in his 50s, registered an FIR with the Toru police stating his 18-year-old niece, Razama, and her 20-year-old cousin, Ismail Khan, were allegedly gunned down by his nephews, Habib Syed and Nouran Syed.

Toru police official Alamgir Khan told The Express Tribune that locals informed him early Tuesday morning about two bullet-riddled bodies lying in a field in Dagar. Alamgir said he visited the site with other officers and discovered the dead teenage girl and boy. “We shifted the bodies to the police station and then to the Mardan Medical Complex for autopsies.”

According to Alamgir, initial investigations revealed Ismail and Razama were in love with each other and wanted to get married, but the girl’s family opposed the decision. At their behest, Razama was engaged to another man in her family, after which both Ismail and Razama decided to elope.



The couple ran away from the area a week ago and started living together secretly, but according to the police officer they had not yet gotten married.

Alamgir added Habib and Nooran, Razama’s brothers, had been trying to hunt them down and were successful Monday night when they found the couple. The brothers took them back to their area and allegedly shot them.

“A case was filed, but both the accused managed to escape,” said the police official, adding post-mortem reports indicated the couple was shot multiple times with AK-47 assault rifles. “We also recovered multiple bullet shells from the crime scene.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2013.