Five more arrested in Lahore honour killing
LAHORE: Police on Monday arrested five more suspects in the case relating to the killing of Farzana Parveen outside Lahore High Court (LHC), DawnNews reported.
Parveen, 25, was murdered by assailants including her own father outside the LHC on Tuesday because she had married a man of her own choosing, Muhammed Iqbal, instead of a cousin they had selected for her.
Speaking to DawnNews on Monday, Civil Lines SP Mufakhar Adeel said five more arrests had been carried out in the case, taking to 10 the total number of those taken into custody over Parveen’s killing.
Adeel added that the arrested suspects were being questioned.
Police had previously arrested five suspects including the victim’s father Mohammad Azeem, her brother Jahan Khan, Mohammad Atta, Nasir and Alam Sher.
The brutality of the case, and the fact that it happened in broad daylight outside one of Pakistan’s top courts drew international condemnation, including from the United Nations.
Many conservative families in Pakistan consider it shameful for a woman to fall in love and choose her own husband. Refusal to accept arranged marriages frequently results in “honour killings”.
In 2013, 869 such cases were reported in the media, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and the true figure is probably higher since many cases go unreported.