Twenty six year old Quratul Ain eloped from her house six months ago, marrying the person with whom she intended to spend her entire life with. However, her dreams fell short when she was shot thrice in the name of honour.
There is a bright spot, however, in that more Arabs and Muslims are taking a stand against these cold-blooded murders. This group, I hope, will catch on.
The rental house where the deceased along with her husband took shelter in is located in the Gulshan-e-Ghazi within the jurisdiction of Malir City Police Station. Quratul Ain was killed in this ‘shelter’ house at around 3:00 am on Sunday when two armed men knocked on her door. Her husband was in the shower at the time; hearing the knocking she opened the door. “She recognised them and tired to flee but the men shot her thrice in her back,” SHO Jehangir Maher told Daily Times. The culprits easily fled the scene when the deceased’s husband Sheraz came out from the bathroom after hearing the sound of bullets and Quratul Ain’s screams.
Not only did her dreams come to an end but her husband’s as well. He helplessly watched his wife take her last breaths in front of him. It is pertinent to mention here that this is the second incident of honour killing in the last seven days. Earlier, on February 22, Elahi Bux surrendered himself after brutally killing his elderly sister Shehla Bibi in the name of honour within the jurisdiction of Korangi Industrial Area Police Station.
Quratul Ain’s body was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, however her husband took it away without legal formalities and an FIR No 48/09 was registered against the two unidentified men on behalf of Sheraz. The couple were Iranian Balochis; they met a long time ago and gradually fell in love. The deceased used to visit her aunts house located in Salaar Goth, close to Sheraz’s house. After Quratul Ain’s family engaged her to a relative, the couple decided to elope and get married in court. Maher further said that it is clear that the killing of the woman was done in the name of honour and added that the couple was being threatened by relatives of the deceased, who had disowned her after she eloped. The officer also said that the woman was not pregnant and no arrests were made.
Joel Landon Watts is a Masters of Theological Studies student with a focus in Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific ideals of the past century. Currently, he is a TA for Old Testament at United Theological Seminary under Dr. Vivian Johnson, Associate Professor of Old Testament. His first book, Rhetorical Strategies of the Evangelist: Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark, is expected to be published by Wipf and Stock early next year. He is currently co-editing a book on moving from Fear to Faith (Energion, 2013).
