UK Couple Murdered In 'Honour Killing'

A couple from Birmingham have been murdered in Pakistan in a suspected "honour killing".

They had reportedly travelled to the country to resolve a dispute over a wedding and were gunned down in the village of Salehana in the remote Nowshera province.

He is understood to have worked as a taxi driver in Birmingham and lived in the Alum Rock area of the city.

West Midlands Police has confirmed the deaths, adding that a murder inquiry is already being carried out by the Pakistani authorities.

The couple have already been buried and the Foreign Office is providing consular assistance to the family.

"We understand this happened as long ago as Monday but the news only just came through because of flooding in that area," he said.

"It seems that their daughter was due to marry a man in Pakistan. She decided to call off the wedding so they went over to try to resolve the dispute.

"He also shot their son, who was wounded but survived, and is in hospital in north west Pakistan."

He said: "I'm very disappointed and shocked by this act. Honour killing is absolutely absurd in this day and age."

Parents living in Britain need to make sure that their children are happy with any marriage arrangements they make, he warned.

I think calling this an "honor killing" is a bit of a stretch. It doesn't fit the pattern of a woman being killed by the men of her own family (father/brother etc). Rejected suitor killing family of his would be bride, happens all the time in many different cultures. Of course in those cultures with arranged marriages, the family is more likely to actually have been involved in the match in the first place. That would include many, but not all, Muslim countries, but also Hindu India, and many others. Not that long ago it would have included a few western and Asian countries too. I had a co-worker, about my age, who confessed to me that his marriage had been an arranged one. He wasn't defensive about it, said they work just as well as the other sort.

In his case he made out like a bandit. A short skinny four-eyed geek, (PhD in physics from a Lousiana school) who ended up with a rather attractive bride, the curvy Indian sort of attractive, with a Master's degree in Chemistry or ChemE. She later got another master's in accounting at a US school. Two kids. Very smart kids.

I had a similar co-worker I knew quite well. A lot depends on what is expected out of marriage. Far to many in the West think marriage supposed to be one long hot honeymoon or ultra-extended date. And mass media feeds us this foolish ideal constantly, when they’re not tearing the family.

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