Pakistan police are searching Lahore for two men suspected of killing a law graduate from London, amid claims that both men had pressured her to marry them.
Mayra Zulfiquar, 24, now known to have been a Belgian citizen and UK resident who moved from London to Pakistan two months ago, was found dead in her rented flat in Lahore on Monday.
Four men, including the two chief suspects, are believed to have broken into the property early on Monday.
Punjab Police superintendent Sidra Khan, citing an initial post-mortem report, told reporters that Zulfiquar had bled to death after being shot in the arm and neck.
The force confirmed they have opened a first information report on the case after receiving a complaint from Zulfiquar’s uncle, Lahore resident Mohammad Nazeer.
Nazeer said Zulfiquar had told him she had become embroiled in a dispute with two male friends after she refused their marriage proposals, and that they had threatened her with “dire consequences”.
Sayyed Ali, an operations superintendent at Punjab Police, told the Dawn news site that an unidentified caller had alerted the force about the murder and that forensic experts visited and cordoned off the scene.
“We are also after two suspects and will share further details at a later stage,” he said, adding: “We have seized the mobile phone for forensic analysis.”
He also said police were also analysing footage from nearby CCTV cameras. Zulfiquar’s parents are expected to arrive in Lahore from their home in west London later this week.
In a statement, Duncan Blackett Law said Zulfiquar had been briefly enrolled on its legal mentorship programme before it was postponed because of Covid. He said she was an “excellent mentee who demonstrated a keen interest in commercial law”.
A UK government source said Foreign Office officials have been supporting the family, and referred the case to Belgian consular services.
They said: “Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.”