Rejection of marriage proposal: MPhil student kills class fellow in Nowshera

NOWSHERA: Dejected over the rejection of his marriage proposal, an MPhil student of the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan allegedly killed his female class fellow outside a restaurant in the Nowshera cantonment, police sources said on Saturday.

The sources said that the slain woman Gulalai, who was also an MPhil student at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, was having lunch with her friends, two maternal uncles and mother when the accused identified as Aziz Jamal came there on a motorcycle and demanded to see her. Armed with a pistol, he pointed it to his temple to commit suicide if she did not meet him. The threat worked and as soon as she stepped out of the restaurant, the accused opened fire and killed her on the spot.

The personnel of the Military Police arrested the accused and handed him over to the police. The police also seized the pistol used in the crime.

During preliminary investigation, the accused confessed to his crime. The motive behind the killing was the rejection of his marriage proposal by the family of the girl, whose marriage date had been fixed. The accused had sent marriage proposal for the girl, but her family turned it down as she had been engaged and was getting married shortly.

She had gone out to the restaurant along with her mother and two uncles as her two friends had arranged a feast for her. It is a tradition in the Pakhtun society that relatives and friends hold a feast for a girl as a gesture of goodwill and hospitality before getting married.