Pakistani Family Butchered In Honour Killing

While a conservative Muslim male in places like Pakistan can have multiple wives of his choosing, the woman usually never has that same choice of whom to wed. And if she does, she might wind up dead. Many a young couple who have married for love are subject to "honour" killings. It happens all the time. The couple run off but are eventually tracked down and murdered. In one recent case, it took 3 decades to catch up to a woman who married for love after her first arranged-marriage husband passed away. After thirty or so years, her son from that first marriage, with her former brother-in-law in tow, butchered his mother along with her 2nd husband and four of their kids. With an ax. Because marrying another man, for love, dishonoured him.

The couple’s 13-year-old daughter was critically injured in the attack on Tuesday night and is fighting for her life in hospital, while four other children escaped unharmed. “Ghulam Fatima, who was in her sixties, had married the man of her choice after her husband died and they moved to Punjab from Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa after threats from Fatima’s former inlaws,” Allah Ditta, a local police official told AFP. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is a conservative northwestern province where it is frowned upon for a woman to marry for a second time, especially someone of her own choosing.

Allah Ditta added that Fatima’s former inlaws had been searching for her in vain since she fled her old home, finally tracing her to her house in the Athara Hazari neighbourhood of Jhang city on Monday. Her son and brother-in-law were invited to stay as guests but murdered their hosts a day later. “Her son and his uncle came to her house on Monday and stayed there until Tuesday night when they axed Fatima, her husband and four children to death,” Ditta said. Mian Aslam, a second local police official, confirmed the incident and said Fatima’s son Mohammad remained at large but his uncle Gul Zameen had been arrested.

The brother-in-law has been arrested, her son Mohammad is still on the run.

Source: Arab Times