SUKKUR: A man shot dead his married niece in the name of ‘honour’ and hid her body underground at an unmarked place in riverine forest near Horan Shar village to deny her proper burial within the jurisdiction of Rustam police station in Shikarpur district on Wednesday.

Sources in the village said that Gul Hassan Shar killed his married niece Nusrat, wife of Ghulam Ali Shar, after leveling accusation on her that she had extramarital affair with a village youth, Sajjan Shar. They said that the maternal uncle was reportedly seen walking with her to the nearby jungle. Afterwards, villagers heard gunshots and the woman had disappeared since then, they said.

They said that many villagers believed Gul Hassan had killed his niece and hid away her dead body purposely to deny her proper burial accorded a ‘chaste’ woman.

The branded youth, who had been accused of having affair with the victim, and his family members abandoned their house and fled from the village to save their lives.

As it happens in such cases, it is believed in the tribal society that ‘honour’ blackened by a woman’s affair cannot not be restored till all the parties involved pay a heavy price, woman with her life and man with back-breaking penalty imposed by a jirga if he escapes before getting killed.

When local media persons enquired the area’s SHO about the incident, he said that police had started investigation into reports of the murder. “If the woman has been killed, we will recover her dead body soon,” he said, adding legal action would be taken against the alleged killer.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2024