Woman gunned down in Lahore hours before her wedding

A bride was shot dead hours before her wedding procession in Lahore on Thursday, according to a statement from the Edhi Foundation, while the victim’s family alleged that her brother-in-law was the culprit.

According to today’s statement, the 23-year-old woman was shot in the head on Thursday morning, noting that it was the day of her wedding procession.

“The police and forensic team collected evidence and launched an investigation,” the statement read. “After the police and investigative agencies completed their work, the body was shifted to the morgue by an Edhi ambulance.

However, the victim’s mother, Jameela Bibi, alleged that her son-in-law had “murdered the girl” and that action should be taken against him.

“I am ready to get my daughter divorced from him (the suspect),” she told Dawn.com.

Meanwhile, the victim’s uncle, Shoukat Ali, told Dawn.com that the suspect shot the girl after she went to sleep.

“[The suspect] threw the gun in a nearby plot,” he said. “He then told us he was feeling ill and asked if he could leave the house. He pretended to be ill to flee the scene.”

Violence against women remains commonplace in Pakistan. Last month, police arrested a woman for allegedly killing her husband’s second wife and dumping the body in a quarter adjacent to her house in the Liaquatabad area of Lahore.

Globally, 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2023, according to a report on femicides released in November last year.

The report, ’Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides — jointly produced by UN Women and UN Office for Drug and Crime — was released to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

According to the report, a vast majority of intentional killings of women and girls worldwide are perpetrated by intimate partners or other family members.