Man hires hitman to kill wife over denial of second marriage

MULTAN: A woman professor, Feroza Jameel, was brutally murdered in Multan by a hired killer after refusing to grant her husband permission for a second marriage.

According to police, the husband orchestrated the killing by hiring a shooter for Rs1.5 million. To avoid suspicion, he attempted to disguise the murder as a robbery.

The incident occurred when the couple, along with their child, was travelling in their car. The shooter intercepted them and fatally shot Professor Jameel.

Police investigations led to the arrest of the husband, the hired killer, and two other accomplices. The suspect admitted to agreeing on the payment with the shooter, providing Rs200,000 upfront and promising the remaining Rs1.3 million after the crime was completed.

This tragic case sheds light on the alarming reality of gender-based violence in Pakistan, where many women face threats to their safety.

The gender-based violence is not just an unfortunate reality but a pervasive issue that affects millions of women across the country. Whether in the form of domestic violence, acid attacks, sexual assault, or technology-facilitated violence, gender-based violence has become a normalised part of the lives of many women, particularly in rural and less progressive regions.

Moreover, almost 85,000 women and girls were murdered by people last year worldwide, according to a joint report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN Women Agency published in November 2024.

About 60% — or more than 51,000 women and girls — died at the hands of their partner or relative, the report found.

This equates to 140 women killed per day or one every 10 minutes by those closest to them.

"The home remains the most dangerous place for women and girls in terms of the risk of lethal victimisation," the report had said.

— With additional input from AFP