April 13, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, April 12: A 70-year-old Afghan refugee, said to be mentally unstable, killed his wife in a fit of rage and after wounding his daughter-in-law and teen-aged granddaughter, stabbed himself in the abdomen, here on Thursday.

Abdul Ghani, 70, an Afghan of Tajik origin, residing in a rented house in G-9/4, slaughtered his wife, Kamla Bibi, with a knife. He attacked his wife and swung a kitchen knife at her neck, cutting her jugular vein, resulting in her death within seconds.

Subsequently, he attacked his daughter-in-law, Razia Bibi, 35, and then his granddaughter, Faiza Bibi, 17, but they offered resistance and were able to save their themselves although they were wounded in the process.

Ms Razia received a deep cut on a finger of her right hand and Ms Faiza was wounded on the neck.

The police was informed of the gruesome incident but before they arrived, Mr Ghani stabbed himself in the abdomen.

He, and his wife’s body were taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), where Mr Ghani was being kept in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after undergoing a surgical operation.

The condition of his daughter-in-law and granddaughter was said to be stable.

The body of his wife, Ms Kamla, was shifted to a mortuary for legal formalities.

Mr Ghani was living at his current residence since July 2006, along with his wife, daughter-in-law and three granddaughters —Faiza Bibi (17), Nazia Bibi (12) and Murzia Bibi (3). His son, Abdul Nabi, lives in the United Kingdom.

The police quoted his daughter-in-law, Ms Razia, as saying that Mr Ghani was a chronic mental patient and was on medications for a long time but he had abruptly stopped taking his medicines for the last couple of weeks. As a result, his blood pressure remained high and he also seemed to have lost control of his mental faculties, she added.

The police said Mr Gani’s son bore the expense of maintaining the family, including his parents. However, he had been planning on shifting his family to London. His father was very annoyed at the decision and may have felt uncertain about his future welfare.

The police quoted Mr Ghani’s Kabul-based grandson, Salman, as saying that his grandfather had been on anti-depressants for the last 16 to 17 years and had been unemployed since then.

Till the filling of this report, no FIR had been registered but the police said they would do so as soon they received a formal complaint and had already deployed a policeman outside the ICU for security purposes.