PAKISTAN: 25-Year-Old Woman Beaten To Death By Family For Marrying For Love
A pregnant Pakistani woman has been beaten to death by her family outside a courthouse in the eastern city of Lahore, Pakistan on Tuesday because she had defied their wishes and married the man of her choice, police corespondents report.
Police investigators said that the woman, known to be Farzana Parveen, 25, was beaten to death on a busy street as a crowd of about 30 men watched, but did nothing.
Such attacks, known as honor killings, are common in pockets of rural Pakistan where tribal traditions are strong. But they are relatively rare in large, cosmopolitan cities like Lahore, and Ms. Parveen’s death was taken as further evidence of the failure of Pakistan’s increasingly weak police to protect vulnerable members of society.
Ms. Parveen, who came from a small Punjabi village 57 miles west of Lahore, enraged her family in January when she married Muhammad Iqbal, a widower from a neighboring village, instead of the cousin who had been chosen by her parents.
Her parents brought a police complaint against Mr. Iqbal, claiming that he had kidnapped their daughter. On Tuesday, Ms. Parveen was scheduled to appear in court in Lahore in the case. Her lawyer said she intended to tell the court that she had not been coerced into the marriage. She was three months pregnant.
As she met with her lawyer early in the morning, a large group of men from her home village gathered outside the lawyer’s offices. The crowd attacked her as she walked the short distance to the city High Court.
One of Ms. Parveen’s brothers stepped forward and fired a gun at her, but missed, the police said, and she stumbled and fell as she tried to flee. He caught her and beat her on the head with bricks from a nearby construction site.
A crowd of witnesses, including her father, failed to intervene during the beating, and Ms. Parveen died of her injuries, the police said. Her brother fled the scene, and the police later arrested her father, Muhammad Azeem, over the killing.
Honor killings in Pakistan are often mistakenly described as the product of Islamic law. Some reports on Tuesday described Ms. Parveen as the victim of a stoning — an image that conjures up images of Taliban-era executions of women accused of adultery — because she had been beaten to death with bricks.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has described the stoning to death of a woman by her family in front of a Lahore court as "totally unacceptable".
He ordered the chief minister of Punjab province to take "immediate action" and submit a report by Thursday evening.
Farzana Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was pelted with bricks and bludgeoned by relatives furious because she married against their wishes.
Her husband told the BBC that police simply stood by during the attack.
"They watched Farzana being killed and did nothing," her husband, Muhammad Iqbal, told the BBC.
There are hundreds of so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan each year.
This incident has prompted particular outrage as it took place in daylight while police and members of the public apparently stood by and did nothing to save her.
Mr Iqbal described the police as "shameful" and "inhuman" for their failure to stop the attack.
Police investigators said that the woman, known to be Farzana Parveen, 25, was beaten to death on a busy street as a crowd of about 30 men watched, but did nothing.
Such attacks, known as honor killings, are common in pockets of rural Pakistan where tribal traditions are strong. But they are relatively rare in large, cosmopolitan cities like Lahore, and Ms. Parveen’s death was taken as further evidence of the failure of Pakistan’s increasingly weak police to protect vulnerable members of society.
Ms. Parveen, who came from a small Punjabi village 57 miles west of Lahore, enraged her family in January when she married Muhammad Iqbal, a widower from a neighboring village, instead of the cousin who had been chosen by her parents.
Her parents brought a police complaint against Mr. Iqbal, claiming that he had kidnapped their daughter. On Tuesday, Ms. Parveen was scheduled to appear in court in Lahore in the case. Her lawyer said she intended to tell the court that she had not been coerced into the marriage. She was three months pregnant.
As she met with her lawyer early in the morning, a large group of men from her home village gathered outside the lawyer’s offices. The crowd attacked her as she walked the short distance to the city High Court.
One of Ms. Parveen’s brothers stepped forward and fired a gun at her, but missed, the police said, and she stumbled and fell as she tried to flee. He caught her and beat her on the head with bricks from a nearby construction site.
A crowd of witnesses, including her father, failed to intervene during the beating, and Ms. Parveen died of her injuries, the police said. Her brother fled the scene, and the police later arrested her father, Muhammad Azeem, over the killing.
Honor killings in Pakistan are often mistakenly described as the product of Islamic law. Some reports on Tuesday described Ms. Parveen as the victim of a stoning — an image that conjures up images of Taliban-era executions of women accused of adultery — because she had been beaten to death with bricks.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has described the stoning to death of a woman by her family in front of a Lahore court as "totally unacceptable".
He ordered the chief minister of Punjab province to take "immediate action" and submit a report by Thursday evening.
Farzana Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was pelted with bricks and bludgeoned by relatives furious because she married against their wishes.
Her husband told the BBC that police simply stood by during the attack.
"They watched Farzana being killed and did nothing," her husband, Muhammad Iqbal, told the BBC.
There are hundreds of so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan each year.
This incident has prompted particular outrage as it took place in daylight while police and members of the public apparently stood by and did nothing to save her.
Mr Iqbal described the police as "shameful" and "inhuman" for their failure to stop the attack.
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