GUJAR KHAN: A 31-year-old woman was allegedly gunned down for ‘honour’ by her brother in the limits of Jalalpur Sharif police station of Jhelum district on Friday night.

However, one of the suspects was arrested at Islamabad International Airport while attempting to flee to Saudi Arabia on Saturday morning.

According to police sources, they received an emergency call from Mohammad Arif, a resident of Wagh village of Pind Dadan Khan tehsil, who reported that an unidentified person had shot his daughter, at 10:10pm.

Taking notice, police investigators reached the crime scene, and found the body of the woman lying in a pool of blood in the centre of the street.

According to police investigations, the woman, a mother of two children, was divorced from her first husband, and had filed a khula [divorce] petition in court to end her second marriage.

Police claimed that her father and brother doubted her character. Therefore, the victim’s brother gunned down the woman at the behest of his father.

The body of the victim was shifted to THQ Hospital in Pind Dadan Khan for postmortem examination while a case was registered on behalf of the police under the complaint of Sub-Inspector Sarwar Mehdi Gondal, posted at Civil Lines police station in Jhelum.

Talking to Dawn, District Police Officer (DPO) Jhelum Tariq Aziz Sindhu said the woman had been killed in the name of ‘honour.’

He said all three brothers of the deceased woman worked in Saudi Arabia, and the suspect had returned to Pakistan five days ago with the plan to kill his sister and escape back to Saudi Arabia.

DPO Sindhu said the suspect had fled the scene after committing the crime and reached Islamabad airport to flee abroad, as he had booked a return ticket.

DPO Sindhu said as soon as the police came to know about his overseas status, immigration authorities of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were alerted at nearby airports, and he was successfully arrested within eight hours while attempting to board the plane from Islamabad.

The DPO said the suspect was handed over to Jalalpur Sharif police by FIA and further investigations are underway, maintaining that the investigation team would be awarded prize money for swift action.

Meanwhile, police have also arrested the victim’s father for allegedly coercing his son to kill his sister.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2025