19th October 2020
By Sher-e-Azam
KARACHI
Residents of Madina Town in Karachi’s Quaidabad have been left in shock at the brutal murder of fourteen-year-old Tooba at the hands of her father on Saturday, October 17. Confessing to the crime, Murad said he did not regret stabbing his own daughter to death in the name of honour. He further revealed that besides him, Tooba was the only surviving member of his family.
According Shahid, a resident of the neighbourhood, it was around three in the morning when screams began emanating from Murad’s house. He was sitting under a tree when he heard the bloodcurdling cries and rushed to the front door, however it was locked.
“When we reached the door, her cries stopped. She had been screaming for help, but by the time we gathered around the front door, there was silence,” he recalled. “[Murad] waited around ten to fifteen minutes after she went quiet, likely to make sure she was dead, before opening the door. She was lying dead on the floor right in front of us.”
“I have been living here for nearly a decade, and I swear under God’s watch that not once did I ever see the girl standing at her own door, much less with anyone,” said Benazir Buneri, also a neighbor.
Kiran Zehra, an advocate of the district and sessions court in Malir, said that the accused should be punished severely. However, it was unfortunate that in many such cases, the accused are able to walk free due to corrupt and deficient police and justice system. With such a faulty law and order situation, honour killings are being carried out with worrying frequency.
“All crime is happening under ‘shelters’, we need to get rid of these shelters,” she alleged. “They are happening under the shelter of the police, of the agencies, we need to address the root cause of the problem. When we do away with the root cause and justice is allowed to be dispensed, our [societal] system will naturally improve.”
According to the police, the accused called the Shah Latif Town police station in the early hours of October 16 to confess to the murder and turn himself in. An FIR with the number 1142/2020 has been registered against Murad for homicide. Furthermore, the police revealed that Murad had murdered his wife in the name of honour some eleven years back.