'Zara was killed over jealousy,' says Daska victim's father

The father of Zara, a 30-year-old woman brutally murdered by her mother-in-law in Daska, alleged that his daughter’s sisters-in-law were jealous of her and accused her of practicing witchcraft on their brother.

Shabbir Ahmed, a former ASI, and father of the deceased said he had married her daughter with Qadeer Ahmed four years ago. 

“Qadeer was working in Saudi Arabia, they have a two-year-old son,” he said, adding, “My daughter was living with her husband, she returned to Pakistan for 15 days, and I left her at her in-laws's home at Kotli Meeran 10 days ago.”

Shabbir, a resident of Kot Mund, Gujranwala, stated that suspect Sughra and her six daughters did not like that she was living abroad with her husband and were jealous of her. 

Moreover, Shabbir claimed that Zara’s in-laws had already made an attempt to murder her in past. 

“I made calls to my daughter on November 10, but the phone was continuously switched off, on November 12, I went to her home, where her sister-in-law told me that Zara escaped with jewellery and valuable equipment, but her son was present at home,” he said. 

Zara’s in-laws' statement made her father suspicious, and he registered the first information report regarding his daughter’s disappearance. He nominated five persons, including Sughra, her daughter, her grandson (son of Sughra’s daughter), her son-in-law, and a male realtive.

Malik Waqas Ahmed, spokesperson of Sialkot police, said the suspect has confessed to the murder.

Sughra and Yasmin stated that Zara used to do black magic and alleged that the deaths and other losses in the family happened due to Zara’s witchcraft.