THE body of an 18-year-old Pakistani-Italian girl, suspected to have been killed by her family for refusing a marriage proposal, has been discovered, Italian news agency Ansa reported on Monday.

The victim, Saman Abbas, went missing from the Italian city of Reggio Emilia on April 30, 2021, with police suspecting that she was killed by her family members.

Reggio Emilia Chief Prosecutor Calogero Paci told Italian TV that the body that has been discovered is “complete and wearing the same clothes” as Ms Abbas when she disappeared.

“A substantially complete body has emerged, which has been well preserved considering the depth at which she was buried for over a year and a half,” said the chief prosecutor.

According to Ansa, a week ago, the woman’s uncle, who was under investigation, took police to the site of her burial outside the family’s home in Novellara, 18km north of Reggio Emilia.

The police had been searching for her body for the past 18 months but failed. Authorities are now conducting DNA tests to confirm the identity, Ansa added.

Four days ago, on Nov 25, police in Pakistan arrested the victim’s father, Shabbir Abbas, from his village in Punjab on a tip-off by Italian authorities, the Associated Press had reported.

He is now awaiting extradition to Italy, according to Ansa.

Ms Abbas’s parents, uncle and two cousins, who were accused of her murder, had left Italy after the incident. However, in Sept 2021, the victim’s uncle — who reportedly strangled her — was arrested in Paris, AP reported. One of the accused cousins is currently in jail in Italy.

According to AFP, the victim rebelled against her family’s plan to have her wedded to a cousin in Pakistan in 2020.

In November 2020, she was moved to a shelter home by Italian social services, but in April 2021, she returned to her parents.

The case came to the lime-light when police arrived at her house on May 5 and found nobody, according to AFP.

Officers then discovered that her parents had left for Pakistan without her, and found images from a nearby security camera that made them believe that she has been killed.

The case has sparked outrage in Italy and has become front-page news since police began investigating her disappearance.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2022