ISLAMABAD: Three people, including a woman and her daughter, were murdered for ‘honour’ in a rural area of the federal capital on Monday, police said.

The three were found murdered in a house at Madina Colony in Sangjani. The victims were bore torture marks all over their bodies.

The woman’s husband and eight other children are missing from the house.

The incident came to light when the owner of the house observed blood spilling into the drains from inside. The owner, who lived in a nearby house, informed the police who reached the spot and broke into the house.

Police say head of family, eight of his children, missing from house

The police found the woman’s body in the veranda while the other two bodies were found on the floor of a room. Multiple stab wounds were found on the bodies, including the abdomen, neck, face and arms, the police added.

Besides, the killer(s) had smashed their faces with stones.

The victims were identified as Saeedullah, Miraj Bibi and her daughter Jamila Bibi. Miraj Bibi was in her late 50s and her daughter in the early 20s.

The victims were from Buner in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The police contacted their relatives after which the father and brother of Saeedullah reached the capital.

They identified the body of Saeedullah but could not confirm who the two women were.

“We do not know their names but they look like our distant relatives,” they told the police.

According to the preliminary police investigation based on the statements of the neighbours, the 11-member family – Miraj Bibi, her husband and their nine children – had rented the house on August 1.

The police said Saeedullah used to visit the house occasionally and called the couple his uncle and aunt.

The police said the woman’s husband, his other eight children along with a vehicle were missing from the house. “Their whereabouts are not known,” they added.

A police officer told Dawn on condition of anonymity that Saeedullah lived abroad and after returning to Pakistan a few months ago had started working at the Sabzi Mandi.

He had a loading vehicle and used to transport vegetables and fruits.

He said Jamila Bibi was married in Buner and her mother had taken her from her in-laws’ house without their will. Meraj Bibi’s husband is working abroad but these days he is in Pakistan, the officer stated.

It is yet to be established when the family moved to the capital from Buner.

But it is confirmed that they started living in the house at Sarjani on August 1.

Circumstances show that it was an honour killing and the killer(s) might have used tranquilisers before killing the three people.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2017