FALSE PROMISES: Six Arrested Over Honour Killing Of Sisters Lured To Pakistan From Spain

Story By:  Ana MarjanovicSub-EditorMichael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

Cops in Pakistan have arrested six over the torture and fatal shooting of two sisters with Spanish residency in a suspected double ‘honour’ killing.

Police in Pakistan’s Punjab province arrested six people on Sunday, 22nd May over the slaying of the sisters, who are Pakistani citizens and residents of Spain.

They believe Aruj Abbas, 24, and Anisa Abbas, 21, were summoned along with their mother Azra Bibi from Catalonia to Pakistan on false pretences on 19th May.

Two Spanish national Pakistani women, Urooj and Aneesa, were allegedly killed by their in-laws for demanding a divorce from their husbands after forced marriage in Gujrat, Pakistan. (Newsflash)

They said the victims were strangled and then shot dead as they slept at their maternal uncle’s house in Nathia village in Gujrat district on the night of 20th May.

Gujrat District Police believe the women were killed after they refused to sign documents so they could take their respective husbands to Spain.

They believe the sisters wanted to divorce their Pakistani husbands – who are said to be siblings themselves and cousins of the women – and marry other men in Spain.

The cops said the couples tied the knot over a year ago and that the marriages were forced upon the young women by their family.

Mum Azra later said she tried to save her daughters but was locked in another room while the torture and killings were carried out.

According to reports, she did not file a police report over the double killing amid suspicions she was pressured by her family not to.

The Pakistani police are investigating the case and there are three more suspects under investigation in addition to the six arrested people.

Six suspects were arrested over the murder of two Spanish national Pakistani women, Urooj and Aneesa, who were allegedly killed by their in-laws for demanding a divorce from their husbands after forced marriage in Gujrat, Pakistan. (@OfficialDPRPP/Newsflash)

The victims’ father is believed to still be in Spain, but the Spanish authorities are not reportedly dealing with the case, as the victims were not Spanish citizens.

Five of the six detainees have been named as Shahryar, Muhammad Hanif, Qasid Ateeq, Hassan and Asfandyar.

Shahryar is the victims’ brother and Muhammad Hanif their maternal uncle.

Gujrat Police spokesperson Noman Hasan was quoted in local media as saying: “Preliminary investigation appears to be a murder done in the name of honour but the matter is progressing and investigation is going on.”

Pakistan has the highest number of documented and estimated honour killings per capita of any country in the world.

Around one fifth of the world’s honour killings are committed in Pakistan.

In some reports, the victims’ names were transliterated as Arooj, Urooj or Uruj and Aneesa.