Nazir Ahmad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nazir Ahmad is a 40-year-old Pakistani man who killed his three daughters and his stepdaughter as his wife, Rehmat Bibi, watched. When Ahmad's eldest (step) daughter, 25-year-old Muqadas Bibi, married a man against his wishes, he slit her throat with a machete in retribution while she slept. He then killed his other young daughters Bano Bibi, Sumera, and Humera because he "thought the younger girls would do what their eldest sister had done, so they should be eliminated. We are poor people and we have nothing else to protect but our honor." He was arrested the next day. The ages of the daughters is not clear as the Associated Press reports them as 12, 8, and 4; the Khaleej Times reports them as 12, 10, and 6; and the Daily Times reports them as 12, 8, and 6 respectively.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Both Ahmad and Muqadas' husband claimed that she had run away because she had committed adultery, but the real reason was because her husband had physically abused her and forced her to work in a brick-making factory.

"Women are treated as property and those committing crimes against them do not get punished," said the rights commission's director, Kamla Hyat. "The steps taken by our government have made no real difference."

Ahmad said he bought a butcher's knife and a machete after Friday Jum'ah prayer and hid them in his house.

His wife Rehmat told reporters, "I was shivering with fear. I did not know how to save my daughters. I begged my husband to spare my daughters but he said, 'If you make a noise, I will kill you.' The whole night the bodies of my daughters lay in front of me."

Ahmed told police that he was "an honorable father and I slaughtered my dishonored daughter and the three other girls. I wish that I get a chance to eliminate the boy she ran away with and set his home on fire."

An estimated 267 honor killings took place in Pakistan in 2005.

Metal band Trivium have written a song about the killings, called "Unrepentant" for their album,"The Crusade".