Free will marriage: Couple shot dead by woman’s uncle

He had gone to their house pretending to have settled the matter.

MULTAN:

A couple was shot dead on Thursday night by the woman’s uncle, police said.

The uncle, they said, had been looking for the couple for six months after they left their native Swabi, got married without her family approval and settled in Multan.

The bodies were sent for a post-mortem examination. A case has been registered at Muzaffarbad police station on the complaint of the deceased man’s brother.

Police said Naveed, 22, and Kainat, 20, had wanted to marry each other. After the woman’s family turned down the proposal, they went to Dera Ismail Khan and then to Multan in December 2012.

Police said Naveed had started working at a factory in an industrial estate.

Last week, they said, Naveed asked his brother Waleed to seek a settlement with Kainat’s family so that they could return to their native city.

They said Waleed contacted the woman’s uncle, Muhammad Akhtar, who had then agreed to accept the marriage.

Waleed told police that Akhtar and three other men came to Multan with him.

On Thursday, he said, he and his cousin took Akhtar to see the couple at their house that they had rented. On reaching the place, he said, Akhtar asked them if he could meet his niece and her husband in private.

He said they agreed and went to another room. He said someone then bolted the door from the outside. Shortly afterwards, he said, they heard gunshots.

Someone from the neighbourhood then informed the police, who freed the two men. Naveed and Kainat were found dead in their room.

The bodies were sent to Nishtar Hospital for a post-mortem examination. Doctors said they had been shot 25 times.

Police said the gun with which they had been shot was recovered from the scene. They said they were looking for the murderers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2013.