ourt records confessional statements of two suspects in honour killing case

KARACHI: Two suspects, held for their involvement in the murders of a young couple on the orders of a jirga in the name of honour, confessed to the crime before a magisterial court on Monday.

The couple, 25-year-old Abdul Hadi and 22-year-old Haseena, who contracted a freewill marriage, was murdered on the night of November 22 in the city’s Mominabad area by the woman’s family members on the orders of a tribal jirga for “bringing disgrace on the family”.

Police have nominated some 15 suspects in the case, of which nine have been arrested. The key suspect, the woman’s father, is still at large and said to have gone into hiding.

Police produced two suspects, Ghulam Rasool and Ziaul Haq, before a judicial magistrate to get their statements recorded.

The suspects confessed before the magistrate that they along with other accomplices orchestrated the murder of the couple on the orders of the jirga.

They said the jirga head and his sons murdered the couple on the night of November 22 and then secretly buried both in Qaimkhani graveyard at around 1:00pm on November 23 to hush up the felony.

Both accused told the court that the police traced their graves with their help and exhumed dead bodies for autopsy.

Earlier, the police had incorporated the relevant clauses of the Anti-terrorism Act 1997 in the FIR registered at the Mominabad police station.

According to the FIR, Miskeen, the victim woman’s father, along with her brothers, Habib, Ayub, Azam and Mirza, murdered the young couple on November 22 for going against their wishes and contracting a freewill marriage, on the orders of a tribal jirga and secretly buried the dead in Qaimkhani graveyard in Ittehad Town.

Of fifteen men nominated in the case, nine have been arrested, whereas the key suspect, the woman’s father, is still at large and said to have gone into hiding.

The held suspects included Abdullah, the father of male victim, Noor Mohammed, Mohammed Umer, Abdul Sattar, Mohammed Azeem, Ziaul Haq, Ghulam Rasool, Abdul Rasheed and Eidan.

Published in Daily Times, December 12^th 2017.