A father who moved his family from the United States to Pakistan has been arrested after shooting his daughter dead in an honour killing over her use of social media.
Anwar ul-Haq, believed to be a US citizen, was charged with murder after he admitted to shooting his 15-year-old daughter Hira dead on Tuesday.
Mr ul-Haq had reportedly forbidden his daughter from making TikTok videos which he deemed ‘inappropriate’, and decided to kill her when she continued to post.
Hira’s family ‘had an objection to her dressing, lifestyle and social gathering,’ according to police.
The shooting happened on Tuesday in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, said Babar Baloch, a local police chief.
He said the father of the 15-year-old girl initially suggested that an unidentified gunman had killed his daughter, but after he was taken into custody for questioning he confessed to the crime.
Mr Baloch said the man’s brother-in-law was also arrested in connection with the murder, adding that both men had apparently objected to her sharing of ‘objectionable’ content on TikTok, which is used by 54 million people in Pakistan.
The family had lived in the US for 25 years, Mr Baloch said, before Mr ul-Haq moved them back to Pakistan recently.
File image shows Pakistani human rights activists holding placards during a protest against honour killings in Islamabad
Officers said they are continuing to investigate all angles, including the possibility of an honour killing.
If the men are found guilty of an honour killing they will face a mandatory life sentence.
So-called honour killings are common in Pakistan, where family members and relatives sometimes kill a woman if she does follow local traditions and culture or chooses to marry a man of her choice.
More than 1,000 women are killed every year in the country at the hands of community or family members over perceived damage to their ‘honour’, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
A change to the law to require a life sentence for the crime was brought in by Pakistan’s government in 2016.
Prior to this, offenders could avoid a jail term if they received a pardon from the victim’s family.
