KARACHI: A woman allegedly killed her two minor children, who had been living with their father since the couple’s separation last year, during a visit to her home in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on Thursday, police said.

“Adeeba, 37, has killed her two kids namely Zarar, 8, and Samia, 4, with a sharp knife due to divorce issue with her husband, Ghufran Khalid, 43,” said South DIG Syed Asad Raza.

He added that the bodies of the children, with their throats slit, were recovered from a house on 10th Street, Khayaban-i-Mujahid. The bodies were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.

The DIG said the police had arrested the woman and recovered the knife used in the double murder.

Police arrest suspect, recover murder weapon; children came to meet her after couple’s separation

He said the couple had separated last year and the issue of custody of the children was taken to a family court, which gave the decision in favour of the father.

However, the mother was allowed to meet her children. On Wednesday night, the children stayed at the home of their mother in the DHA where she allegedly killed them.

“She [the mother] even sent pictures [of the bodies] to her former husband after killing the children,” said the DIG, adding that the father, Ghufran, then called Madadgar-15 for rescue. However, when the Darakhshan police arrived at the residence, both the children had passed away.

The DIG said that in her initial statement before investigators, the woman said she did not want to defend herself because there was “nothing logical or reasonable enough for the murder”.

She said she woke up between 8:30am and 9am and saw her children having breakfast with their grandmother.

She made a phone call to her former husband, but did not disclose the details of their conversation.

The police did not elaborate further on the specific circumstances surrounding the double murder.

The woman claimed that the children had told her “to send them somewhere where they could not face such a situation, which she was facing”.

When asked whether her children had experienced any “negative behaviour” from their father, she did not elaborate, the DIG added.

The DIG said that during the initial probe, it transpired that Ghufran and Adeeba met in Karachi in 2012. They subsequently got married.

The police added that Adeeba was among four siblings and their parents had separated. Her father lives abroad. Her mother married another man but later separated from him.

The police said Adeeba had taken admission at an institute in Karachi affiliated with a UK-based university, but she could not complete her graduation.

She even did some minor jobs in the metropolis but she had no regular employment.

Ghufran, who lives on Khayaban-i-Rahat in the DHA, told the police that he was financially supporting his former wife, said the DIG.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2025