British woman is murdered by gunman at rented home in Pakistan 

A British law graduate has been murdered by gunman at a rented home in Pakistan on Monday after telling her uncle two men had been trying to force her to marry them, it has been reported.

Mayra Zulfiqar, 26, was found to have been shot and strangled in the Defence district of Lahore after gunman are believed to have barged into her home and bedroom.

Lahore police said a group of four men broke into Mahira’s rented home in the Defense area on Monday and killed her. A cleaner found the body and alerted local police who attended the scene.

Local reports say two men had been competing for Zulfiqar’s hand in marriage, raising the suspicion that the killing could be a crime of passion.

Zulfiqar is understood to have moved from Pakistan from the UK around two months ago, where she had been studying at Middlesex University after attending school in Twickenham. She was visiting Pakistan for a wedding but decided to stay.

According to the Independent Urdu, the victim’s uncle – Mohammad Nazeer, who had visited his niece a few days ago – filed a First Incident Report (FIR) to the police, accusing two men of being behind his niece’s murder.

British woman Mayra Zulfiqar, 26, was found to have been shot and strangled in the Defence district of Lahore after gunman are believed to have barged into her home and bedroom

British woman Mayra Zulfiqar, 26, was found to have been shot and strangled in the Defence district of Lahore after gunman are believed to have barged into her home and bedroom

The Lahore native complained that two of her friends – named as Zahir Jadoon and Saad Ameer Butt by Dawn.com – had been threatening her and harassing her, making her fear for hear life with ‘dire consequesnces’, according to the report.

The FIR states that the woman’s uncle said he would confront the two friends over their actions, but at around 2pm on Monday the uncle received a phone call from her father in London saying that she had been shot, the outlet reported.

The uncle claims that Zulfiqar was killed by two friends, along with the help of two other unidentified people, in the early hours of Monday morning as part of a plot, according to Independent Urdu. 

According to the report, one of the friends of the victim was trying to force her to marry him, but was in competition with another. 

Zulfiqar had refused to marry both of them, and her uncle is now seeking legal action against the two he has accused of her killing, the outlet reported. 

According to SHO Qasim, a police officer involved in the investigation, investigators are looking at whether her death was due to the gunshot wound, or if strangulation was involved as well.

Qasim, who was on the scene and took the body into custody, said: ‘The woman had a bullet wound to the shoulder, but the exact cause of death will be known after her post-mortem and forensic report, whether the death was due to a gunshot wound or whether her throat was strangled.

‘We have launched an investigation into every aspect of the murder. More facts will come to light after the autopsy and forensic report.’ 

Zulfiqar had arrived in the country two months ago from the UK where her family are from, police superintendent Sayyed Ali told Dawn.com.

Mr Sayyed told reporters that Zulfiqar’s friend was living in an adjoining room in the upper part of the house, and that she was assisting police in their investigation.

The officer said that they had been alerted to the apparent murder, and that forensic experts had cordoned off the crime scene.

A British woman has been murdered by gunman at a rented home in Pakistan on Monday, it has been reported. Pictured: Police in Lahore stand guard outside a home [file photo]

A British woman has been murdered by gunman at a rented home in Pakistan on Monday, it has been reported. Pictured: Police in Lahore stand guard outside a home [file photo]

He added that the woman had been found lying in a pool of blood in her room. A mobile phone was found near her body.

‘We have seized the mobile phone for forensic analysis,’ Sayyed told the local outlet, adding that officers were attempting to find nearby CCTV footage.  

The woman’s parents and other family members living abroad have been contacted, Mr Sayyed noted as well.

‘We are also after two suspects and will share further details at a later stage,’ the  police said, adding that Zulfiqar’s friend had not shared detail that could help in their investigation. 

He added that Zulfiqar’s body had been taken to a morgue for an autopsy, with police saying so far no arrests have been made.

Her parents are understood to be travelling to Pakistan.

source: dailymail.co.uk