PESHAWAR, Oct 27: A girl was killed by poisoning in Pir Taib Banda area of Swabi district in what her relatives and neighbours believe was a case of honour killing.

The victim’s father, brother and uncles said 15 year-old Asma had committed suicide but relatives and neighbours who attended her funeral claimed that she had been tortured and forced to take poison allegedly by her family members.

A relative said Asma was engaged to a boy in Tarakai village but she eloped with 18-year-old Salim of her neighbourhood. “They made it to the city’s bus stand, from where Salim ran away leaving her alone.”

A union council naib nazim took the girl to his home and provided her shelter for about one month before handing her over to her father about a month ago with the consultation of a jirga on surety that she would not be killed, a relative of the girl said.

On the third day of Eid, when her mother had gone to her parents’ home and Asma was alone, she was found dead and her family members claimed that she had committed suicide.—Correspondent