SAHIWAL: The SHO of the Kassowal police station has been removed from his post for booking an honour killing case as a suicide after an 80-day long struggle by the victim’s teenage younger sister.

As per details, after a departmental inquiry, DPO Usman Tipu removed Kassowal police SHO Zeeshan Bashir from his post and demoted him from to the post of sub-inspector from an inspector for concealing the murder of Atiqa Mazhar, an MPhil student, in village 01/14-L of Chichawatni tehsil.

Speaking to Dawn, DPO Usman said that the investigation had been broadened to include around eight suspects, including police officials, and those who allegedly coerced the victim’s parents into submitting affidavits declaring the death a suicide.

He said that sections related to honour killing and concealment of evidence would be added to the FIR, registered on Nov 1 on the orders of the Chichawatni additional sessions judge.

The DPO confirmed that the SHO was found guilty and a departmental investigation was underway.

The breakthrough came due to the extraordinary courage of 17-year-old Horiya Hijab, victim’s younger sister, who defied immense social pressure from her family.

After 75 days of silence and resistance from her family and the influential biradari, she secured a court order that forced the Kassowal police to register a murder case earlier declared a suicide on Aug 15, 2025.

The incident occurred on the night of Aug 14 when Atiqa Mazhar was shot dead in her home by her paternal cousin Ali Raza alias Muddasar and five accomplices, Ishtiaq, Abeer, Fahad Ali, and Najeeb, allegedly in retaliation for rejecting his marriage proposal. Her family, under pressure from biradari members, were forced to declare the murder a suicide and submitted an affidavit to the police.

With the support of her maternal uncle, Horiya secretly approached a local lawyer and filed a writ petition in the Chichawatni tehsil court.

The court ordered the Kassowal police, based on the postmortem report, to register a murder case.

The DPO confirmed that suspects Adeel and Ishtiaq had been arrested and were under physical remand, while raids were being conducted to apprehend Ali, Fahad, Ashfaq, Labeeb, and Waqas.

Horiya was being provided full police protection until the investigation concluded, he added.

Meanwhile, Hasan Mumtaz Gujjar had been appointed as the new SHO of the Kassowal police and had assumed charge.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2025