Pakistani Teen Survives Being Shot, Thrown in Canal by Family for Marrying Wrong Man
An 18-year-old Pakistani woman survived being shot twice and thrown in a canal by her family in an attempted honor killing for marrying the man that she loved.
"It is an honor-related incident," local police chief Ali Akbar told Reuters.
"The victim, Saba [Maqsood] ... married her neighbor Muhammad Qaiser for love five days ago against the wishes of her family. They took her to Hafizabad, shot her twice and threw her in the canal after putting her in a sack, presuming that she was dead."
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Maqsood was apparently attacked by her father, uncle, brother and aunt and thrown into the waterway in the city of Hafizabad in Punjab province.
The woman survived, however, and was helped by two passersby after she regained consciousness and managed to struggle to the bank. She has wounds in her cheek and right hand, Akbar added.
"She is a brave girl. She came out of the canal and approached a nearby fuel station from where a rescue team rushed her to [a] hospital," he said.
The attack happened a little over a week following the honor killing of a pregnant Pakistani woman, who was stoned to death by nearly 20 members of her family, also for marrying a man against her family's wishes.
Farzana Parveen, the slain 25-year-old woman, is said to have been three months pregnant when her father, brothers, and other family members attacked her and her husband, before killing her with bricks in broad daylight.
The father, Mohammad Azeem, was arrested by police.
"I killed my daughter as she had insulted all of our family by marrying a man without our consent, and I have no regret over it," Police investigator Rana Mujahid quoted the father as saying.
While Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has condemned such honor killings and called for "immediate action" on these cases, polls on Pakistani attitudes have shown that a significant number do believe such killings can be justified.
A 2011 Pew Research Center survey found that 40 percent of respondents believe that to protect a family's honor, a woman who engages in premarital sex or adultery can be killed.
The survey did not, however, ask about children marrying without the consent of their parents, which was the case in both killings these past couple of weeks.
