A woman set her daughter to fire for marrying the man of her choice on Wednesday, police said. The 18-year-old girl died on the spot.
The victim Zeenat, a resident of Mast Iqbal Road, had eloped with a man she liked and who her family disapproved of, said Station House Officer (SHO) Sheikh Hammad Akhtar.
Two days before the incident, the family coaxed the deceased to come back home on the pretext that they will send her off with their consent. However, when once she returned, her mother doused her with petrol and set her alight.
Police claim the victim’s mother, while professing her crime, admitted to pouring petrol on her daughter and then torching her.
The police shifted the girl’s body to a mortuary and arrested her mother.
Superintendent Police Ibadat Nisar said the deceased girl’s brother, who had arrived from Dubai, has been missing since the incident happened, and police is looking for him.
Zeenat’s husband Hasan told a private news channel that the pair had eloped, but he had reluctantly allowed her to return to her family home after they promised they would hold a celebration and not harm her.
He said: “After living with me for four days following our marriage, her family contacted us and promised they would throw us a proper wedding party after eight days then we could live together.
“Zeenat was unwilling to go back to her home and told me that she would be killed by her family but later agreed when one of her uncles guaranteed her safety. After two days, she called me and said that her family had gone back on their word and asked me to come get her, but I told her to wait for the promised eight days. Then, she was killed,” he said.
Earlier this month, a 19-year-old school teacher was set on fire in Murree for refusing to marry a man twice her age.
Last month, police arrested 13 members of a local tribal council who allegedly strangled a local girl and set her body on fire for helping one of her friends elope.
The charred body of 17-year-old Ambreen Riasat was found in a burned van in the tourist resort of Donga Gali on April 29.
Nearly 1,000 women are killed each year in Pakistan in so-called “honour killings” for allegedly violating conservative norms on love and marriage.
