Pakistan: Nine-year-old allegedly kills aunt for being in a ‘love marriage’, police claim family trained him to do it

A nine-year-old boy allegedly shot dead his paternal aunt for being in a “love marriage” in Pakistan’s Sargodha city as part of an honour killing. The case has sparked a conversation about violence against women in the country on social media.

The incident occurred in the city's 104 North village area.

According to local media reports, police claim the minor boy's family trained him to use a gun and told him to kill his paternal aunt, who had married by choice a decade ago — before he was even born.

Kanwal Parveen’s marriage had upset her family who did not accept her spouse, and following the wedding, her relatives did not have good relations with her, police told media outlets.

On September 14, Parveen’s family invited her to celebrate the birth of her nephew at their home where her other nephew, a nine-year-old boy, shot her to death.

Local media reported that police said the woman was killed in a pre-planned manner and that a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the boy and the two suspects who had allegedly trained him to carry out the killing.

The Saddar police Station House Officer (SHO), Zafar Shah, was quoted as saying: “It is very likely that his [suspected killer’s] family informed him about his aunt and how she opted to marry by her choice that's why, the boy shot his aunt dead.”

Talking about the incident, tweep @Xadeejournalist posted: “Can't get worse than this. Nine-year-old kid shot and killed his aunt for marrying of her own choice in Sargodha. Was trained by family members for one year how to kill his aunt.”

User @SumairaRabbani tweeted: “Killing two birds with one stone. Get the person killed, and not face punishment. The kid might serve a few a years in juvenile detention and that's it. He should be tried as an adult, or else this will be the new way to execute honour killings unaccounted.”

Twitter account @timesofpak123 posted: “[…] There have been several cases in which women were killed by their relatives in #Pakistan during past two weeks over ‘honour’.”

https://twitter.com/timesofpak123/status/1308353085509566465

On September 11, a similar case had emerged from Sargodha city.

Police arrested a 22-year-old man for allegedly murdering his sister, as part of an honour killing, after she married for the sixth time.