A mother of six was allegedly shot dead by her husband reportedly in the name of 'honour' in Sindh's Shikarpur district on Wednesday, police said.

The accused man gunned down his wife, 36-year-old Aooraan, after suspecting her of having illicit relations with a neighbour in Dilawar Marfani village of Garhi Yasin tehsil, SHO Shahzado Dasti said.

The suspect managed to flee after committing the crime, the SHO added.

After being alerted about the incident, police reached the crime scene and shifted the victim's body to Garhi Yasin taluka hospital. The body was handed over to the woman's relatives after postmortem examination.

A first information report has been registered at Dilawar Marfani police station on behalf of the state, the SHO said. Police have launched an investigation into the woman's murder.

Scores of women in Pakistan are still being murdered by relatives for allegedly bringing shame on their family, more than a year since new laws came into force aimed at stemming the flow of 'honour killings'.

The legislation mandates life imprisonment for honour killings, but whether a murder can be defined as a crime of honour is left to the judge's discretion.

That means the culprits can simply claim another motive and still be pardoned, according to Dr Farzana Bari, a widely respected activist and head of the Gender Studies Department at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University.