Italian-Pakistani woman killed by father, brother for ‘honour’

GUJRAT: An Italian-Pakistani woman, Sana Cheema, was killed by her father, brother and uncle, in an alleged case of honour killing, Geo News reported Tuesday morning. Police said the 26-year-old woman’s family had termed her death an ‘accident’ and buried the body in West Mangowal area of Gujrat district on April 18. However, Gujrat DPO started an investigation after social media reports suggested that the girl had been murdered. According to the police, the girl’s father, identified as Ghulam Mustafa, wanted to marry her off to his relative but Sana wanted to get married in Italy. The father then took on board his son Adnan Mustafa and brother Mazhar Iqbal, and hatched a plan to kill her. Police have registered a case against three suspects on April 23, who are yet to be arrested. On the issue, the Italian foreign ministry remarked that it has kept an eye on the case, adding that it is determined to reach to the bottom of the case. The ministry also said it is willing to cooperate with Pakistani authorities over the issue. Moreover, the Pakistani community in Brescia also protested against the killing Tuesday. In 2016, the high-profile ‘honour killing’ of British national Samia Shahid in Pakistan had rocked the nation. The 28-year-old from Bradford had been visiting her family in Jhelum when she was murdered in July 2016. Her second husband Mukhtar Syed Kazam had raised concerns that his wife had been murdered because her family disapproved of their marriage. Samia’s relatives had initially claimed she had suffered a heart attack which led to her death. Eventually, Samia’s first husband Ch Shakeel confessed to strangling her.