MUZAFFARABAD: A joint team of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Punjab police on Wednesday recovered the bodies of three minor children from a village in Bhimber district, nearly two weeks after they were allegedly murdered and buried by their mother and her paramour, police said.

DSP Bhimber Rashid Habib Masoodi told Dawn by telephone that the case came to light after the children’s father, Rizwan Iqbal, lodged an FIR at the Saddar police station in Sarai Alamgir, Gujrat district, on Dec 21.

The complainant stated that his 26-year-old wife, Sidra Shabbir, who had been in contact with an unknown person through social media, left home on Dec 19 along with their three children — aged between two and seven — for Sarai Alamgir but did not return.

According to the FIR, a copy of which was available with Dawn, the complainant said he searched for his wife and children among relatives but failed to trace them, and while alleging that an unknown suspect had abducted his wife for immoral purposes, sought their recovery.

Sarai Alamgir police traced and recovered the woman from Kas Chanatar village in AJK’s Bhimber district. On the basis of information obtained from her, her local paramour, identified as Babar, was also arrested.

During interrogation, police said, the woman and her accomplice confessed to having murdered the three children on Dec 19 and burying their bodies near a local stream.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2026