https://tribune.com.pk/story/2357678/pakistani-spanish-sisters-killed-for-honour-in-gujrat
Punjab Police were on Saturday investigating the murder of two Pakistani-Spanish sisters as an “honour killing”, a brutal patriarchal practice that sees women put to death for bringing “shame” on their families.
A spokesperson for Punjab Police said Aneesa Abbas, 24, and Arooj Abbas, 21, were seeking separation from their husbands and were lured back from Spain to Gujrat where they were strangled and shot on Friday night.
Both the sisters, residents of Nathia village of Gujarat district, returned Pakistan from Spain on May 19, 2022, along with their mother Azra Bibi.
On the night of May 20, the two sisters were shot dead in the house of their maternal uncle, Hanif alias Goga….
The suspects include Anisa and Urooj’s brother Shehryar Abbas, uncle Hanif alias Goga and cousins — Qasid Hanif, Atiq Hanif, Farazna Hanif, Hassan Aurangzeb….
“The family created a story to convince them to come to Pakistan for a couple of days,” said Gujrat police spokesperson Nauman Hassan.
“Preliminary investigations show this is a case of honour killing, but it is still developing and the investigation is ongoing,” he added.
Police also said the women were being “pressurised” by their spouses — who were also their cousins — to aid their emigration to Spain.
Seven members of the sisters’ family are currently wanted for murder.
Gujarat DPO Ataur Rehman said that the preliminary investigation has revealed that the two sisters were married to their cousins a year ago and now they wanted divorce from their husbands.
The sisters wanted to marry someone else in Spain and they had been tricked into returning home with their mother, the official added.
The police officer said when the two sisters refused to sign papers to enable their husbands to emigrate to Spain and demanded a divorce, a bitter argument broke out between them and later they were tortured before being killed.
Azra Bibi, mother of the victims, said a few moments before the incident, she tried to protect her daughters but she was locked in a separate room.
Galyana Police Station SHO Shiraz Haider said that Azra Bibi did not want to be a plaintiff in this case so the police became the party….
Swathes of Pakistani society still operate according to strict codes of “honour” that radically undermine women’s rights….
There were more than 450 honour killings last year, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan….
