Pakistani origin Spanish sisters murdered by uncle in Punjab province for failure to take husbands to Spain

Islamabad, May 21

Two Pakistani-origin Spanish sisters have been murdered by their paternal uncle in Pakistan’s Punjab province for allegedly failing to take their husbands to Spain, according to a media report on Saturday.

Arooj Abbas and Aneesa Abbas, aged between 21 and 23, were murdered in Nathia village of Gujrat district, about 170 kilometres from Lahore, on Friday because they failed to get their respective husband’s visas to settle with them in Spain, reported the Dawn newspaper.

Initial investigation suggested that both the sisters, who are Spanish nationals, were married to their cousins in Pakistan more than a year ago, were not happy with their marriages, the report quoted police sources as saying.

Both the sisters were found murdered in their house. They were severely tortured before being shot dead, the police said.

The police said the women were killed by their paternal uncle, who was also the father-in-law of one of them.

Their husbands—Hasan and Atique—as well as their in-laws suspected they had “intentionally” delayed the procedure for their husbands’ visas as their wives did not want them to be with them in Spain, the police said.

Gujrat District Police Officer (DPO) Ataur Rehman and others reached the spot after the incident and a team of forensic experts collected forensic evidence from the crime scene. The bodies were shifted to the hospital for autopsy.

The women’s mother, Azra Bibi, who was also present in the house at the time of the murder, told the police that her daughters on their return to Pakistan had refused to live with their husbands.

“On this, my brother Hanif and my daughters’ husbands severely beat them and shot them dead. I begged them to spare their lives but the killers did not listen,” she said.

The police have registered a case against nine persons and have been conducting raids to arrest the suspects involved in the crime.

In Gujrat, a few years ago, Sana Cheema, an Italian-Pakistani woman, 26, was allegedly killed by her father, brother, and uncle in the name of honour.

Sana’s father wanted to marry her off to his relative but she had a boyfriend in Italy to whom she wished to marry.