Husband kills pregnant wife for ‘honour’ in Shangla

A five-month pregnant woman was killed by her husband and brother-in-law Saturday (today) in the name of ‘honour’ in Shangla.

Minat Sajida, a resident of Shangla’s Besham tehsil Dandai area, was shot dead after her husband accused her of having extra-marital relations, the deceased woman’s brother told local police.

Station House Officer (SHO) Afzal Khan of Dandai police station, said the victim’s brother claimed his sister had been married to Bajreen for 14 years and they had four children. But Bajreen believed he was not the father of the child she was expecting, he added.

The police officer confirmed that the woman was five months pregnant and was killed using a pistol. Both Bajreen and his brother are missing since the murder.

“In the last eight months, three honour killing incidents occurred within the precincts of Dandai police station and most of the culprits were arrested and sent to prison,” police said.

Hundreds of women are murdered by their relatives in Pakistan each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as ‘family honour’.

In June, sixteen-year-old Zeenat Bibi was killed in Lahore by her mother for marrying a man of her own choice in a case that sparked condemnation throughout the country.

It was swiftly followed by another killing, of a couple in Lahore who married without their family´s consent.

Earlier, in April, police arrested a young man in Orangi Town for slitting his teenage sister’s throat and watching her bleed to death. Hayat Khan, aged around 20, used a kitchen knife to murder his 16-year-old sister Sumaira after he found her talking to a man on her mobile phone at their home.

A film on honour killings in Pakistan won an Oscar for best documentary short in February.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to eradicate the “evil” amid publicity for the film, “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness”.

Also earlier in June, the Sunni Ittehad Council had issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, declaring “honour killing” over perceived damage to a family’s reputation against the teaching of Islam, and anyone who carries out such an attack a heretic.