Pakistani Woman Burns Daughter Alive Allegedly Because She Married Against Family’s Wishes
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani woman was arrested Wednesday after dousing her daughter with kerosene and burning her alive, allegedly because the girl had defied her family to marry a man she was in love with, police said.
Hassan Khan shows the picture of his wife Zeenat Rafiq, who was burned alive, allegedly by her mother, on a mobile phone at his home in Lahore, Pakistan Wednesday, June 8, 2016. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Police official Sheikh Hammad said the killing took place in the eastern city of Lahore, the country’s cultural hub, and that the mother was arrested the same day.
The suspect, Parveen Rafiq, has confessed to tying up her 18-year-old daughter Zeenat Rafiq to a cot after which, with the help of her son, Ahmar Rafiq, she poured the oil on the girl and set her ablaze, Hammad said.
Nearly 1,000 women are killed each year in so-called “honor killings” in Pakistan for allegedly violating conservative norms on love and marriage.
A schoolteacher, Maria Bibi, was assaulted and set on fire last week for refusing to marry a man twice her age. Before she died, she managed to give a statement to the police, testifying that five attackers had broken into her home, dragged her out to an open area, beat her and set her ablaze.
Pakistani family members of a female teacher who was beaten and set on fire, comfort each other in Upper Dewal, Pakistan, Thursday, June 2, 2016. Pakistani police say they have arrested two suspects and are continuing their search for five men who tortured a 19-year-old school teacher and burned her to death for refusing to marry a man twice her age. (AP Photo/Muhammad Yousaf)
The prime suspect in the case — the father of the man she refused to marry — and the other four are all in custody.
A month earlier, police arrested 13 members of a local tribal council who allegedly strangled a girl and set her on fire for helping a friend elope. The charred body of 17-year-old Ambreen Riasat was found in a burned van.
The daughter killed in Lahore, Zeenat Rafiq, had gotten married last month before a court magistrate to a motorcycle mechanic, Hasan Khan, said Hammad.
Three days ago, he said, the girl’s mother and an uncle visited her to try to persuade her to return home and have the marriage ceremony repeated in a traditional family function, instead of being labelled her whole life as someone who had “eloped.”
Khan, her husband, told the local Geo News TV station that his bride had feared the worst.
Hassan Khan, husband of Zeenat Rafiq, who was burned alive, allegedly by her mother, shows his marriage certificate to media at his home in Lahore, Pakistan Wednesday, June 8, 2016. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
“Don’t let me go, they will kill me,” Khan recounted his wife telling him.
