Daily Times

LAHORE: A girl was killed by her brother for insisting on marrying a man of her choice, police said on Tuesday, marking the country’s latest gruesome “honour killing” following a string of incidents that have sparked national outrage.

Anum Ishaq, in her late teens, was murdered while she slept in the city of Sialkot southwest of Lahore in the early hours of Sunday. “Saqib Ishaq, 23, killed his sister by smashing her head with a wooden log while she was sleeping,” Rana Zulfiqar, the officer in-charge of the police station in Sialkot, told AFP.

“The girl, named Anum, was in her late teens and wanted to marry a man of her own choice but the family was against the marriage,” he said. Rana said the girl was insisting on Saturday that she would marry the man, infuriating her sibling.

The brother has since been arrested and charged with murder after the girl’s father filed a case against him. Shamoon Gill, a Christian activist, told AFP that ‘honour’ killings were very rare among the Christian community in Pakistan. “It has nothing to do with religion but is part of a social issue that is deeply rooted in eastern societies,” he said.

Hundreds of women are murdered by their relatives in Pakistan each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour, and this latest incident follows a spate of recent attacks.

Last week 16-year-old Zeenat Bibi was set on fire in Lahore by her mother for marrying a man of her own choice. Zeenat’s mother later confessed to the crime.