Woman killed in Pakistan asked police for protection
A YOUNG London woman killed in Pakistan after she had refused two marriage offers had appealed for help from the police two weeks before her death.
Mayra Zulfiqar had apparently asked police in the city of Lahore for protection after accusing a man of abducting her at gunpoint.
Miss Zulfiqar, 24, who was found dead in her apartment this week, had been threatened by two men who both wanted to marry her, according to a legal case filed by her family.
Pakistani police said that they were seeking the two men plus two accomplices who were accused of breaking into Miss Zulfiqar’s home before strangling and shooting her.
New legal documents have disclosed that she went to police on Apr 20 to state that a man had taken her at gunpoint and tried to sexually assault her, according to the BBC. She said that she managed to run away by alerting bystanders, but the man threatened her, saying, “You won’t be able to escape, I will kill you.”
Miss Zulfiqar had left London for Pakistan two months ago to attend a wedding with her family. She decided to stay on when they returned and had been staying in the Defence Housing Authority district of Lahore.
Her uncle told police she had been threatened with “dire consequences” by two men after she refused their proposals and had asked him to intervene.
Police checked CCTV in the area after her abduction, according to neighbours in the street where she was renting her accommodation. A neighbour who declined to be named said loud arguments could often be heard from the apartment and in one incident men brandishing knives were seen threatening Miss Zulfiqar from the street.
Her funeral took place this week. The Foreign Office said that she was a Belgian national who had lived in the UK.