Samia Sarwar - The Killing

The Killing

The killing took place at a meeting between her mother and Samia at her lawyers' office - her mother enabled the murderer to get access to the meeting, by insisting she had trouble walking and needed assistance.

Samia had been married several years to a cousin, her mother's sister's son—and had suffered continuing violence and abuse. She decided to get a divorce. In the meantime she fell in love with an army captain Nadir Mirza, and requested her family's permission to marry him. Upon their refusal, she left her kids and eloped with Nadir, despite her unfinalized divorce. From Peshawar (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) they escaped to Lahore (Province of Punjab). For a few days in Lahore, they stayed at a 5 star hotel, while her family searched for her in Peshawar, NWFP. Soon Nadir and Samia ran out of money, she then contacted her relatives to request money, who reported her whereabouts to her parents.

Upon lack of support from relatives to provide money and shelter, Nadir went back to work in Peshawar, and Samia took refuge in Dastak, a shelter for women in Lahore. Unable to return home, Samia stayed at Dastak while waiting for her divorce.

Samia's mother sought permission to see her at Dastak by claiming that the family had accepted her relationship with Nadir. She was accompanied by a man whom Samia didn't recognize. He was there ostensibly to help her frail mother walk. Once in the lawyer's office the man pulled out a gun and shot Samia dead.