Pakistani woman killed by husband in Chicago murder-suicide
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WASHINGTON: “It’s painful to walk away from someone you once loved. But it is even more painful to love someone who is careless with your heart,” 29-year-old Pakistani-American Sania Khan wrote in one of her last social media posts.
Earlier this week, her estranged husband Raheel Ahmed, 36, arrived at her home in a Chicago suburb, shot her dead and then killed himself.
He travelled more than 700 miles from Alpharetta, Georgia, to Streeterville, Illinois to do so.
On Thursday, Sania’s father Haider Farooq Khan posted a brief announcement on her daughter’s Facebook page, saying: “My oldest daughter Sania Khan passed away.
Her funeral will be on Thursday after Asr prayer, at Chattanooga Islamic center. Please keep us in your duaa.”
The family lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
According to details, the couple was going through divorce proceedings and Sania had moved from Alpharetta to Chicago where she was doing professional photography.
The Chicago Tribune reported that police officers went to Sania Khan’s apartment at about 4:30pm on Monday after they received a call for a welfare check.
When they arrived, they heard the sound of a gunshot and a man groaning. Inside, officers found Sania dead near the door. She had a gunshot wound to the back of her head, The Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Raheel was discovered in a bedroom with a head injury. Police found a handgun in his hand and a suicide note was discovered nearby.
Raheel was transported to Northwestern Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Later, the Cook County Coroner confirmed both deaths.
Police went to Sania’s apartment after Raheel’s family reported him missing from the Atlanta suburb, where he lived.
According to an Alpharetta police officer, the two were going through a divorce.
“RIP Sania Khan! She decided to end an abusive marriage, but her ex-husband killed her,” said a note on her Facebook page.
“Sadly, she didn’t have support from her family or the society. Desi people care more about their reputation than their child’s happiness,” the note added, reminding South Asian parents that “a divorced daughter is better than a dead daughter!”
Before she was shot, Sania Khan posted videos on TikTok about how difficult it was for a South Asian woman to seek divorce.
Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2022
Anwar Iqbal is a correspondent for Dawn, based in Washington, DC.
