Pakistani Kills 4 Daughters After Eldest Marries, Police Say

A father, angry that his eldest daughter had married for love, slit her throat as she slept and then killed three other daughters in a remote village in eastern Pakistan, police said Saturday.

Nazir Ahmad, a laborer in his 40s, feared that the younger girls, ages 4 to 12, would follow in their sister’s footsteps, officer Shahzad Gul said.

Ahmad surrendered to police after the killings in Burewala, about 70 miles east of Multan, a main city in eastern Punjab province, Gul said. “He told us today that he has killed his daughters, and we arrested him,” he said.

Gul said Ahmad’s eldest daughter, Muqadas Bibi, 25, had married the man of her choice against her father’s wishes weeks ago.

Ahmad contacted Bibi only this week, saying he was ready to forgive her, Gul said.

But when Bibi visited her parents’ house, Ahmad slit her throat as she slept and then killed the other three girls, Gul said, adding that police were investigating whether anyone helped in the killings.

Gul said police were also looking for Bibi’s husband.

Hundreds of women are killed in Pakistan every year, many by male relatives, after being accused of having affairs or marrying without their families’ consent.