Pakistan: Brother of woman burnt to death held

The police arrested the brother of a Pakistani woman on Tuesday for alleging burning her to death in an honour killing here last week.

Anees and his mother Parveen allegedly tied Zeenat, 18, to a bed, doused her with petrol and set fire to her on June 8 in Lahore’s thickly-populated factory area on Ferozpur Road, for marrying a man of her choice.

As her daughter burned, Parveen ran into the street shouting that she had killed Zeenat for “bringing shame on her family”. Parveen had told the police in custody that her daughter had committed an “unforgivable” crime by marrying a man, Hasan, after eloping with him.

“The police on Tueday arrested Anees, brother of Zeenat from Lahore,” Lahore police spokesman Nayyab Haider said.

Parveen and Zeenat’s brother-in-law are already in police custody and facing a murder case under terrorism charges.

“Anees denied his involvement in the murder. He told the police that his mother torched Zeenat while she (Parveen) shut her in a room. I loved my sister,” Mr Haider quoted Anees as having said.

Zeenat reportedly fell in love with Hasan Khan, who lived in her locality, and asked her parents to accept the marriage proposal. On their refusal, Zeenat eloped with him and contracted a court marriage on May 29.

Mr Khan is an ethnic Pashtun while Zeenat was a Punjabi that was said to be the main cause of her family’s disapproval.

He said the two had been “in love since our school days” but the family had rejected several marriage proposals, forcing them to elope.