Ex-husband, father charged with Pak-British woman's murder

The father and ex-husband of a Pakistani-origin British woman were today charged with her murder in Pakistan in an apparent case of "honour killing" here.
The former husband of 28-year-old Samia Shahid was also charged with raping her before strangling her to death.
Shahid, a resident of Dhok Pandori village, some 230 km from Lahore, had come to Pakistan from Dubai in mid July to see her ailing father and was found dead on July 20. Her father claimed that she died due to cardiac arrest.
The murder would have gone unnoticed but British MP Naz Shah in a letter alerted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that it could be a case of honour killing following which Shahid's father Muhammad Shahid and ex-husband Muhammad Shakil were arrested.

The two are in police custody where according to police, Shakil had confessed killing his former wife.
The police has charged Shahid and Shakil with Samia's murder.

An autopsy report showed that she was raped before her murder.
Police is also trying to bring back Samia's sister and mother who fled to the UK after the murder.
A high-level inquiry headed by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abu Bakar Khuda Bakhsh concluded that she was murdered.
The DIG also asked for action against Station House Officer (SHO) Aqeel Abbas for professional negligence.
A police official said that following the official procedure, a case was registered against Abbas yesterday and he was arrested and locked up in Mangal police station.

Police sources said that Shakil, who is also Samia's cousin, confessed strangling her to death as she married another man of her choice.
Syed Mukhtar Kazim, second husband of Samia, had told police that his wife had been killed by her family members for marrying against the will of her parents.
Kazim and Samia, both British-Pakistani dual citizens, had been married for two years and were living in Dubai.
A beauty therapist from Bradford, Samia had previously been married to her first cousin Shakil but the couple parted ways after divorce in May 2014. She then married Kazim.