He preferred land over his woman

A 20-year-old woman was strangled to death by her husband and in-laws over property disputes in the Shahdara Police precincts on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Iqra Azhar Shah, a resident of Railway Station, Shahdara Area. Police said the deceased had married her cousin, Tassawar Shah, a resident of Siraj Park Area, two years ago. Early on Tuesday, Tassawar and his family contacted Iqra’s father, Azhar Shah, and informed him of Iqra’s ‘sudden death’, claiming that she had committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan, using her dupatta. Azhar immediately reached Tassawar’s house and found her body lying on the bed. He immediately informed police, which removed the body to the morgue for autopsy.
Shahdara Town Police Sub-Inspector Muhammad Nazir said police had not registered any case yet.
He said police was waiting for the autopsy report and would take action against the accused only after seeing the report. He said parents of Iqra had claimed that she had been murdered by her in-laws, whereas, Iqra’s in-laws claimed she had committed suicide. Nazir added that after the autopsy report, police would not only register a case but also arrest the killers as soon as possible.
City Division Police Superintendent Anwar Khaitran said initial interrogations had established that the girl had been murdered and had not committed suicide. Azhar told journalists that Iqra had been facing serious problems since her marriage.
He said Iqra’s in-laws had killed her over property issues. He said after her marriage, Iqra’s in-laws and her husband had forced Iqra to demand a residential plot of 10 marlas from him, which he owned in a local residential colony. Azhar said he had transferred the plot to Iqra so that she could continue living with her in-laws peacefully. To Azhar’s surprise, six months later Iqra’s in-laws started harassing her again to demand another plot from him.
“There was another plot which I owned and Iqra was forced to demand the same plot,” Azhar said. “The plot has a dual ownership, due to which I did not manage to give her the plot,” he added. “Two day ago, Iqra visited us and told her mother about her in-laws’ demand, but we plainly refused it,” Azhar said, adding that on Tuesda,y he heard that she had committed suicide.
He said Iqra’s paternal uncle Bashir Shah had earlier threatened him of dire consequences. “Bashir Shah told me to transfer the plot against Tassawar’s name, otherwise they would kill Iqra,” Azhar said. Azhar’s wife said that Iqra, in her last visit, had clearly said she was being severely beaten by her husband over these property issues.
She said Iqra had told her that she was facing immense pressure and might be killed by her husband and in-laws if she could not get them the plot, but Iqra’s mother had never thought it would actually happen. She said that she herself suggested that Iqra return to her in-laws house and lamented that if she had believed her daughter, this might not have happened.
In a similar incident, a 22-year-old woman was poisoned to death by her husband and in-laws in the Kahna Police precincts. The deceased was identified as Rizwana Anwar, resident of a village located near Kot Radha Kishan, Kasur.
Police said Rizwana had married Muhammad Shafiq, resident of Ward No 4, near Kahna Police Station. Police said both, husband and wife, used to quarrel with each other over domestic issues since their marriage. According to police, on September 26, an unconscious Rizwana was shifted to General Hospital. Doctors told police that she had either swallowed poisonous pills herself or had been given poisonous pills, due to which she had fainted. Rizwana died at General Hospital on Tuesday, over which her father, Muhammad Anwar, complained to police that his daughter had been poisoned to death by her husband, her mother-in-law Parveen Bibi, sister-in-law Iqra, father-in-law Riaz and Shafiq’s paternal uncle, Hassan. The Kahna Police removed the body to the Jinnah Hospital morgue and registered a case on the complaint of Anwar but no arrests were made by police.