A first-year college student was poisoned to death in the name of ‘honour’ in Rawalpindi last week, according to a First Information Report (FIR) filed by police on Tuesday.
The FIR, registered at Jatli police station and seen by Dawn.com, named the victim’s father and uncle as suspects. According to the report, the victim’s parents claimed she went missing from their home at 8 p.m. on February 3. After searching for her, they eventually found her and brought her home.
The family suspected that the girl had run away because she had established a relationship with someone. The FIR alleges that her relatives poisoned her to death in the name of honour. The victim was later buried in Syed village, but the news of her death only emerged on Tuesday.
The victim’s mother reported that her daughter was engaged to her cousin, whose father is one of the suspects. She said the girl went missing around 8:30 p.m. and was returned home by her uncle at around 1 a.m. the same night. The following morning, the family discovered that she had died.
The mother further accused the uncle and father of plotting her murder and claimed the uncle forcefully fed the victim poisoned wheat, stating in front of the family, “We needed to kill the girl to preserve our honour.”
The suspects have been charged with various offenses under Pakistan’s Penal Code, including murder and causing the disappearance of evidence.
‘Honour’ killings remain a persistent issue in Pakistan, with 346 people reportedly killed in such crimes in 2024, according to data from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. These killings, driven by cultural beliefs surrounding family dignity, are particularly prevalent in Sindh and Punjab.
