July 30, 2007	Monday	Rajab 14, 1428

GUJRANWALA: Slavish acceptance of age-old family traditions and so-called honour consciousness have ruined many a home and hearth in the country’s remote areas the inhabitants of which still look down upon girls and feel no qualms of conscience in sacrificing them to meet their abominable designs.

In yet another reminder of such an imbalance in society, a teenager has shot dead his two sisters who he thought ended his love-marriage by orchestrating his separation with his wife.

In the afternoon of Saturday last, Muhammad Shahzad, 17, a resident of Mohallah Ansariyan in Gakkhar, killed his two sisters — Musarrat Bibi and Farhat Bibi — who had attained a marriageable age. Shahzad, the only son of Ghulam Mustafa and brother of five sisters, had seven months ago brought a relative girl home and informed his father that he had tied the knot with her.

The news shocked the family which did not accept their new relationship more so because the girls felt that their only brother should have thought of arranging their marriages first. What happened thereafter offended Shahzad’s wife who decided to return to her parents just two months later.

Shahzad was more than certain that his sisters were responsible for offending his wife and in a rush of blood he shot dead Musarrat and Farhat; the latter was asleep at that time.

An FIR quoted Ghulam Mustafa as stating that he was at his house with Haji Muhammad Akram, Haji Muhammad Arif and his son Shahzad when his daughter, Musarrat, asked him to drop her to a friend’s house. Shahzad, however, took her to another room and opened fire on the two sisters, leaving them dead.

Ghulam Mustafa, the complainant, told Dawn that he was not present at his house when Shahzad killed his sisters. “Nor do I know what made Shahzad shoot his sisters”.

He said when Shahzad brought her bride along with him, he scolded him because of the love-marriage that, he feared, could disturb his daughters. What happened was sheer bad luck, said the ageing father, who was more than willing to forgive his son “to save the sole support of my family”. Having lost two daughters, he would not like to lose his son as well.

“To condone my son is the only option for a person like me, destitute and disease-stricken”, he said.

Muhammad Irshad and Muhammad Younis, residents of Mohallah Ansariyan, told this correspondent that Shahzad might have committed the sin in depression for parting with his wife. They said they came to know about the incident after they returned home from jobs.

Many other neighbours were reluctant to speak, but certainly had mixed feelings.

Gakkhar Mandi police SHO Amir Shaheen Gondal told Dawn that Shahzad had killed his sisters in rage over domestic row, but the actual motive would come to light only after his arrest. He said Ghulam Mustafa was initially reluctant to lodge an FIR against his son, but later he changed his mind.— Imran Saleem