Unrequited love: woman still in critical condition

Attacker is also hospitalised for self-inflicted wound.

RAWALPINDI:

Love, some might call it obsession, took an ugly turn when a 19-year-old disabled boy shot and injured a woman, earlier this week.

The victim, Mamoona, 27, a resident of Khayaban-e-Sir Syed, was going to the market along with her cousins and mother this Tuesday when Nauman Butt, a student of B.Com and a resident of the same locality, came on a motorcycle and shot her in the throat and chest.

“She fell to the ground and was bleeding profusely,” said Fatima, her cousin. Butt also shot himself in the abdomen on the spot. Both injured were rushed to Holy Family Hospital where Mamoona’s condition is stated to be critical due to excess bleeding.



Sobia, the victim’s aunt, told The Express Tribune that Butt used to tease her and wanted to marry her, “She is already engaged to her cousin and her wedding had been fixed for the coming weekend,” she said. Butt threaten to kill her if she refused to marry him several times but we ignored the threats, she added.

Doctors are not certain about the chances of her survival. “We can only pray for her recovery,” said Dr Asma, an on-duty doctor at HFH’s intensive care unit.

When Butt was asked what made him take such an erratic and extreme measure, he replied, “Just because I’m disabled does not mean that I cannot love,” he said.

The alleged attacker’s mother, who was cursing her son for ruining Mamoona’s life, said she was embarrassed as no one in the family ever thought Butt could commit a heinous crime.

“His friends must have coerced him to do it otherwise he is a quiet kid who likes to study,” she said. She said her son suffers from polio and shooting himself in the abdomen will worsen his condition.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2013.