Victim says attacker was killed during a scuffle with family. PHOTO: AFP/FILE

LAHORE: A disgruntled man shot a woman and then allegedly turned the gun on himself during a brawl in Lahore on Saturday after the girl’s family had turned down his marriage proposal.



Mystery surrounds the death of 22-year-old Muhammad Ashfaq, whose family claims he was murdered. However, the girl’s family claims the man had showed up with a gun at their house in Kot Lakhpat and attempted to kill their daughter.



Police said Ashfaq, a resident of Changa Manga, wanted to marry one of the girls in the family but the parents had turned down his proposal. He had hurled death threats many times before. The family told police that the injured girl was sitting in her room along with her mother and younger sister, when Ashfaq barged into their house in Tariqabad at noon and started screaming at them. He was carrying a weapon and threatened them with dire consequences.



When the women asked him to behave and talk politely, the man was infuriated and started thrashing the mother. While one of the girls ran away, the other tried to save her mother from the attacker, who shot at her from close range. The girl was shot in the hand.



The injured girl told police that Ashfaq first beat her mother and then tried to kill her sister. She claimed Ashfaq was killed as she and her mother tried to snatch the gumyster, from Ashfaq’s hands.



Police shifted the victims to the Lahore General Hospital, where doctors pronounced Ashfaq dead on arrival while the girl was given medical treatment.



Police registered a case against the family on the complaint of Ashfaq’s family, who alleged the man was murdered. Kot Lakhpat SHO Imran Qamar said both families had a long-running feud over the rejection of the marriage proposal. “The statements from both parties were contradictory that made the matter suspicious,” he added. Investigation Officer Murad Rasool said the post-mortem report would help ascertain whether it was a murder or a suicide case.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2016.