RAWALPINDI: A student of Pir Mehr Ali Shah University of Arid Agriculture was shot dead on the campus in front of other students on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old student of BS computer science was leaving the university when a man, Shoaib Ismail, 26, appeared on the scene and shot her in the head.

The alleged killer was quoted by a police official as saying, “I remained near her, waiting for her to die, because I wanted to take her corpse to her parents’ house.”

Shoaib was overpowered by the victim’s terrified university fellows and later handed over to New Town police.

According to the university students, every person entering the premises is subjected to a security check. “We are surprised how the alleged killer managed to bring a pistol inside,” a student said.

According to police investigators, Shoaib had recently completed his bachelor’s degree from a private university in Islamabad.

The police officer, investigating the case, said the alleged killer used to give tuitions to the victim. During this period they developed feelings for each other. However, the girl’s parents objected, so they decided to contract a court marriage.

The officer added that the couple married four years ago, but the girl continued to live with her parents in Afshan Colony.

Shoaib sent his parents to the girl’s residence with a proposal, as they did not want to keep their marriage a secret. However, the girl’s parents dismissed the proposal.

After that, differences started developing between Shoaib and the girl as he suspected that she was involved with someone else.

“Shoaib was irritated when he read a text message from someone on the girl’s cellphone, five months ago. Following the incident, he did not contact her,” a source close to the investigation revealed.

When contacted, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Zeeshan Haider said that the alleged killer fired three bullets at the girl.

The ASP dismissed the theory, when asked whether the killer wanted to commit suicide after murdering the victim, saying that he had no such intention.

The victim’s father, however, said: “Shoaib wanted to marry my daughter and had also proposed. But I turned it down after which he killed her.” The father, in his statement, said he, along with his son and nephew, had come to the university to drop his daughter. He said as he entered the university at about 2:30pm, he found Shoaib standing in the courtyard.

On seeing him, Shoaib started using abusive language and all of a sudden pulled out his pistol and shot his daughter, killing her on the spot.

The victim’s body was handed over to her parents after the postmortem. A murder case has been registered against Shoaib.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2014