A British law graduate has been shot and strangled at her rented home in Pakistan after telling her uncle two men had been trying to force her to marry them.
Mayra Zulfiqar, 26, from Feltham in south west London, was found dead at the property in the Defence district of Lahore after four attackers reportedly barged into her home and bedroom.
Local reports say two men had been competing for Ms Zulfiqar's hand in marriage, with police in Pakistan describing the killing as a possible 'crime of passion'.
Ms Zulfiqar, who studied law at the University of West London, is understood to have moved to Pakistan from the UK around two months ago after attending a friend’s wedding and deciding to stay in the country.
The victim's distraught parents are understood to be travelling to Pakistan after they were told of their daughter's death.
According to the
Independent Urdu, the victim's uncle - Mohammad Nazeer, who had visited his niece a few days ago - filed a First Incident Report (FIR) to the police, accusing two men of being behind his niece's murder.
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The Lahore native complained that two of Ms Zulfiqar's friends - named as Zahir Jadoon and Saad Ameer Butt by
Dawn.com - had been threatening and harassing her, making her fear for hear life with 'dire consequences', according to the report.
The FIR states that the woman's uncle said he would confront the two friends over their actions, but at around 2pm on Monday he received a phone call from her father in London saying that she had been shot, the outlet reported.
The uncle claims that Ms Zulfiqar was killed by two friends, along with the help of two other unidentified people, in the early hours of Monday morning as part of a plot, according to Independent Urdu.
According to the report, one of the friends of the victim was trying to force her to marry him, but was in competition with another.
Ms Zulfiqar had refused to marry both of them, and her uncle is now seeking legal action against the two he has accused of her killing, the outlet reported.
Mr Nazeer has said he suspects that Mr Jadoon and Mr Butt, along with their two unknown accomplices killed his niece - after intricate planning - at around 4-5am.
According to Dawn.com, under Mr Nazeer's criminal complaint, a case has been registered against the suspects under Sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code - premeditated murder and common intention respectively.
According to Station House Officer (SHO) Qasim, a police officer involved in the investigation, investigators are looking at whether her death was due to the gunshot wound, or if strangulation was involved as well.
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Qasim, who was on the scene and took the body into custody, said: 'The woman had a bullet wound to the shoulder, but the exact cause of death will be known after her post-mortem and forensic report, whether the death was due to a gunshot wound or whether her throat was strangled.
'We have launched an investigation into every aspect of the murder. More facts will come to light after the autopsy and forensic report.'
SHO Qasim also confirmed that Mahira's uncles FIR of the murder of the victim has been registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Mr Sayyed told reporters that Ms Zulfiqar's friend was living in an adjoining room in the upper part of the house, and that she was assisting police in their investigation.
The officer said that they had been alerted to the apparent murder, and that forensic experts had cordoned off the crime scene.
He added that the woman had been found lying in a pool of blood in her room. A mobile phone was found near her body.
'We have seized the mobile phone for forensic analysis,' Sayyed told the local outlet, adding that officers were attempting to find nearby CCTV footage.
The woman's parents and other family members living abroad have been contacted, Mr Sayyed noted as well.
'We are also after two suspects and will share further details at a later stage,' the police said, adding that Ms Zulfiqar's friend had not shared detail that could help in their investigation.
He added that Ms Zulfiqar's body had been taken to a morgue for an autopsy, with police saying so far no arrests have been made.
Ms Zulfiqar is understood to have moved to Pakistan from the UK, where she had been working as a paralegal at Duncan Blackett, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She had previously graduated with a Masters of Laws from the University of West London, and also studied for a Bachelor of Laws at Middlesex University, during which she spent time studying in Dubai.
A British woman has been murdered by gunman at a rented home in Pakistan on Monday. The woman, identified as Mayra Zulfiqar, 26, is understood to have travelled from the UK in March.
www.dailymail.co.uk
What wonderful "friends". This also happened in "defence", where things are supposed to be civil?
I hope they hang the filth, but knowing the system I won't hold my breath.
Mayra Allah accept you as shaheed.
news.sky.com
