Skardu family of four killed; police suspect honour killing

Four members of a family were killed in their house in Skardu on the night of 29 October, and Skardu police say they suspect the motive was an honour dispute. Muhammad Aslam, his wife Hania Aslam, their four-year-old son Mahdi and two-year-old daughter Zahra were killed with a sharp-edged weapon, according to police. The attackers also wrote words in the blood of the dead on a dish lying in the room before they left, police said.

DSP Salahuddin of Skardu police told BBC Urdu that the killings were among the most horrific in the history of Gilgit-Baltistan, and that in his long service across the region he had not seen young children killed with such cruelty. He said all four died of wounds to the throat, and that Aslam and his wife carried other injury marks on their bodies.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Aslam's brother Khadim Hussain against Hania's brothers, her father and her maternal uncle under several sections. In the FIR, Khadim Hussain said his brother had contracted a court marriage with Hania five or six years ago and worked at a pizza shop. He said Hania's relatives had in the past threatened serious consequences over the court marriage, and that her family had earlier registered a case against Aslam in Karachi.

Salahuddin said the evidence suggested the attackers entered the house before Aslam came home, killed Hania and the two children first and then waited for him. Aslam was attacked when he walked in and was dragged to the room where his wife and children lay, the DSP said, pointing to a trail of blood running from the porch to that room. Police suspect the named men are in Parachinar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in Karachi, and raids are being carried out to arrest them, he said.

Akhtar Ali Khan, Aslam's cousin and a neighbour, told BBC Urdu that he had visited Hania the previous evening and promised to take the ailing Zahra to hospital on Friday morning. He said he telephoned at about 8am and got no answer, then walked to the house 200 metres away, where the main gate was open and there was blood in the car porch with a streak leading towards the rooms. He said he found Aslam dead on the floor, Hania on the bed and both children in their own beds, and informed Rescue, the police and Aslam's brothers.

Muhammad Iqbal, a lawyer practising in Skardu and a childhood friend of Aslam, told BBC Urdu that Aslam brought Hania to Skardu after the court marriage in Karachi and told him repeatedly that he could not go back to Karachi because he was at risk there. Hania's parents had registered a case against Aslam at the time, Iqbal said, but Hania appeared before a Skardu court and stated that she had married of her own free will. Protests have been held in Skardu over the killings.