'Honour killing': Father, uncle gun down couple in Pakistan

Lahore: A woman and her friend were on Sunday shot dead allegedly by her father and uncle in a suspected case of "honour killing" in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, police said.

Fauzia, 24, and Imran, 30, were in a relationship and used to meet without the knowledge of their families, The Express Tribune reported.

The woman's father and other family members came to know that she had gone to meet Imran at his house, police said. "In a fit of rage, the woman's father Iqbal, uncle Yaseen and two cousins rushed to his house and opened fire on them," he said. The couple were killed on the spot in the firing.

Police said after an initial investigation, they found that the woman's family found them in an objectionable condition and killed them, the report said.

A case of murder has been registered against the culprits and raids were being carried out to nab them, police said.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, nearly 1,000 women and girls in deeply conservative Pakistan are being murdered every year for allegedly bringing shame on their family.

The rights group says that the women are killed for being accused of having illicit relations and marrying without the family's consent.
Most of the women are killed by their brothers and husbands, the group said.