BADIN: An elderly man allegedly shot dead his daughter ‘in the name of honour’ in Haji Soomro village within the jurisdiction of Tando Bago police station, 21km from here, on Monday morning.

The villagers, however, believed the father, Mohammad Ibrahim Soomro, had taken upon himself the blame to save his son who had actually killed her.

Ibrahim Soomro, who surrendered to police after the murder, confessed to killing his daughter Meerzadi, 20, ‘to save his honour’.

“My daughter had married one Mohammad Ayub Rajar from Mirpurkhas about six months back without our consent,” he said.

He said that he was now repenting the ‘sin’ he had committed because he had been fed up with the taunts of co-villagers and his community members over her daughter’s free-will marriage.

Sources in the village disclosed that Meerzadi was actually shot dead by her brother but the elderly father took the blame upon himself in order to weaken the case and save his son.

The sources said that her brother and father had forcibly wrenched away the girl from her husband and were pressuring her to get divorce and marry someone else from her community. On her refusal she was shot dead by her brother with a pistol, they said.

SHO of Tando Bago police station, Anwer Ali Leghari, said that an FIR had been registered under Section 302 of Pakistan Penal Code on a complaint lodged by Allah Bux Soomro, the girl’s brother.

Badin SSP Abdul Qayyoom Pitafi has directed the SHO to thoroughly probe the murder case and investigate all its possible angles.

The body was taken to Tando Bago taluka hospital and was handed over to relatives after post-mortem.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017