LAHORE, July 27: Pakistani police have launched a probe after registering a murder case against parents and relatives of a British-Pakistani woman who died under mysterious circumstances during her visit to the country, raising suspicions that she was a victim of “honour killing”.
According to her family, 28-year-old Samia Shahid died on July 20 due to cardiac arrest in Mangla area of Jhelum district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
But her husband Syed Mukhtar Kazim registered FIR on July 23 against Samia’s father, mother, sister, cousin Mobeen and her former husband for allegedly murdering her as they were not happy with the marriage.
Police briefly detained the father of the woman but later released him after finding no evidence against him. It has now launched proper probe after the FIR.
Her father has rejected the charges insisting that Samia died of ‘heart attack’. The body samples has been sent to the forensic laboratory in Lahore.
Samia, a resident of Dhok Pandori village, Jehlum, some 230 km from Lahore, had come to Pakistan from Dubai about two weeks ago to see her ailing father.
A beauty therapist from Bradford, Samia had previously been married to her first cousin Shakil but the couple parted ways after divorce in May 2014. She then married Kazim of Taxila in September 2014 and both started living in Dubai.
Kazim claimed in the FIR that Samia had been killed by her family who refused to accept their relationship because he was an outsider.
“Samia’s mother phoned her on July 11 and asked her to come to Pakistan to see her ailing father. Samia arrived in Pakistan on July 14. She told me by phone that her father was all right and now she was feeling threats to her life.
“On July 20 his wife’s phone was switched off and he contacted Mobeen, her cousin, who said that Samia had suffered a heart attack and died,” Kazim said.
He said he reached Pakistan on July 21 and got a murder case registered against his in-laws.
“An investigation is under way and if I am found guilty I am ready for every kind of punishment,” her father said.
“My daughter was living a very peaceful and happy life. She had come to Pakistan on her own and was not under any pressure from her family,” he said.
A British MP Naz Shah was first to raise the issue when she wrote this week to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to order probe as Samia might have been killed for “honour”.
In a letter written on Sunday to Sharif, Shah wrote: “Should this be [an honour killing] case then we must ensure justice is done for Samia and we must ensure this never happens again.”
The British high commission in Islamabad was in contact with the local authorities in Jhelum as well as the family of the deceased woman regarding the developments in the case.
“I am sure my wife is killed by the family,” Kazam said.
Honour killing is common in Pakistan. Last week, social media sensation Qandeel Baloch was killed by her younger brother as he objected to her photos and videos. (PTI)
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