Autopsy confirms strangulation in honour killing of Pindi girl; jirga leader among four netted

Rawalpindi: In a significant development in the case of 18-year-old Sidra, who was allegedly murdered on the orders of a local jirga in Rawalpindi’s Pirwadhai area, the post-mortem has confirmed that she was strangled to death. Police have arrested four more suspects, including the jirga head, Ismatullah.

Sources revealed that Sidra’s body bore signs of torture on the head and face, and her lips had turned blue, indicating asphyxiation.

Earlier, authorities exhumed the victim’s body from the Pirwadhai graveyard in the presence of a local magistrate. Forensic samples were collected by a medical team from Holy Family Hospital, and a two-member team from the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory also reached the graveyard to collect further evidence. During the exhumation, tight security was maintained with barriers around the site. The gravedigger, Rashid Mehmood, identified the grave in the presence of authorities.

According to police, after the killing took place during the night of July 16–17, Sidra’s body was secretly buried the next morning in the Chatti graveyard. Following the burial, the gravedigger and approximately 25 others allegedly destroyed evidence related to the grave.

Three suspects are currently in police custody on physical remand. After the exhumation, police arrested four more individuals, including former Vice Chairman Ismatullah, bringing the total number of detained suspects in the case to seven. The gravedigger, a rickshaw driver, and the secretary of the graveyard committee were among those previously arrested.

Further revelations have emerged in the case. Sidra was allegedly murdered on jirga orders due to her marriage to a man named Usman. Usman, the victim’s second husband, voluntarily appeared before Pirwadhai Police and provided key testimony.

According to him and Sidra’s father-in-law, Muhammad Ilyas, she had married Usman in Muzaffarabad on July 14. Usman worked as a mechanic in Pirwadhai and brought Sidra to live with him after the marriage.

Sidra reportedly told her in-laws that she was a Hafiza (memorizer of the Quran), her father was deceased, and her mother had remarried her uncle. She also confided that her uncle was attempting to marry her off to an older man, and that she had received threats from family members.

Three days after the marriage, a group of 8–10 armed men allegedly stormed Usman’s house in Muzaffarabad, issued threats, and forcibly took Sidra back to Rawalpindi, where she was later killed.

In a chilling twist, it was revealed that the same jirga head who ordered the killing, Ismatullah, also led Sidra’s funeral prayers.