State registers FIR after police say 19-year-old was killed by relatives; a suspect arrested
A 19-year-old woman was allegedly shot dead by her uncle and cousin in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Dir district after she was seen talking to a neighbor outside her home, police said on Wednesday.
The incident took place on June 26 in the mountainous village of Kharkai, under the jurisdiction of Khar police station.
The victim was her parents’ only child. Her father had gone abroad to work, while her mother died during childbirth last year. After her mother’s death, she had lived with her uncle.
Read: 405 honor killings recorded across Pakistan in 2024: HRCP
According to the police, she was allegedly killed in “the name of honor”.
This was told by Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Rashid Khan, who is leading the investigation Express Pakinomist that a first information report (FIR) was registered in the case.
He said the victim was killed with Kalashnikov fire and that spent bullet casings had been recovered from the crime scene.
According to the investigating officer, two suspects – a father and son, who were the victim’s uncle and cousin – were nominated in the case. One suspect was arrested while efforts were made to apprehend the other.
The officer said the victim had no siblings and her father was abroad, prompting the police to register the case as a complaint to ensure strong prosecution. He expressed confidence that the suspects would be brought to justice.
Lower Dir District Police Officer (DPO) Captain (retired) Bilal Furqan told Express Pakinomist that a police team, including women officers, was sent to the area immediately after the incident. He said the victim’s body was sent for an autopsy.
He said the FIR was registered on behalf of the state through the station house officer under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code, along with Section 311 on so-called honor killings.
Also read: Only women are murdered in 90% of honor killings
The DPO said the police arrested one of the suspects – the victim’s cousin – within two days of the incident.
Reports had circulated that the victim was buried without a funeral prayer after the killing. However, police confirmed that a local religious scholar led her funeral prayers and that she was buried according to customary procedures.
Honor killings remain a serious and persistent human rights problem in Pakistan despite legal reforms and growing public awareness.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported that at least 405 so-called honor killings were recorded in Pakistan in 2024. In its 2025 annual report, the commission said the number had risen to 470. Most victims were women, often killed by relatives who claimed to be defending family honor.
The killings have been reported not only in Lower Dir but also in several other districts of the province including Peshawar, Upper Dir, Swat and Charsadda.
According to KP Police data obtained by Express Pakinomist160 honor killings were reported across the province in 2025, compared to 159 cases in 2024. About 70 percent of the victims in the 2024 cases were women.
The data showed that 374 people were nominated in honor killing cases last year, of whom 258 were arrested. However, the police said that apart from a few cases, many suspects were later released after a settlement was reached between the parties.
