Sisters who sought divorce victims of ‘honour killing’
POLICE in Pakistan and Spain are investigating the murder of two sisters who were allegedly killed when they attempted to end their marriages.
Aneesa Abbas and her sister Arooj, aged 24 and 21, were allegedly tortured before being strangled and shot in the head in Nothia, Punjab province, after they reportedly refused to sign papers that would allow their male cousins and husbands to gain visas to settle in Spain.
According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, the two victims were lured to Pakistan after being told that their mother was dying.
A day after arriving, on Friday, they were found dead.
Local police have since arrested the victims’ husbands, two of their brothers and two uncles.
According to reports, the women said they wanted to divorce their cousins and be free to marry members of the Pakistani community in Catalonia. The mayor of Terrassa, the town near Barcelona in which the women lived, held a minute’s silence yesterday.
“We condemn these sexist crimes and continue to work to end such acts,” Jordi Ballart said.
The father of the women has been questioned by Catalonia’s police force, who are probing if he was involved in the plot.
“I have two dead daughters and two of my sons are in jail. I don’t know what to think,” Ghulam Abbas told the newspaper El País.
Mr Abbas moved to Spain 13 years ago and was eventually joined by his two daughters and a son, Shehryar, who is among those arrested for the killing.
According to Dawn, Shehryar is the main suspect in the killing.
Neighbours and family sources said that the victims’ mother, Azra Bibi, had been confined by her in-laws in a room for several months and was prevented from phoning her daughters, so they would believe that she was ill.