Saba Maqsood: Teen Survives Honor Killing After Torture, Shooting By Own Relatives

Saba Maqsood is lucky to be alive. The Pakistani teen survived an honor killing after she was tortured and shot twice by her father, uncle, brother, and aunt. When they thought she was dead, Saba was put in a sack which was then thrown into a waterway canal.

Fortunately, she’s in good care now.

MSN reports that the Maqsood family disapproved of Saba falling in love and choosing her husband. Arranged marriages are what extreme conservative Pakistanis believe in.

The honor killing incident happened in the city of Hafizabad in the Punjab province. Local police official Ali Akbar, says:

“The victim, Saba… married her neighbor Muhammad Qaiser for love five days ago against the wishes of her family. They took her to Hafizabad, shot her twice and threw her in the canal after putting her in a sack, presuming that she was dead.”

Saba regained consciousness after her family fled the scene. Two passers-by helped the 18-year-old after she struggled up a bank from the waterway.

The girl’s injuries consist of severe wounds on her cheek and right hand. A teenager surviving an honor killing virtually unheard of.

Akbar says of Sabar Maqsood:

“She is a brave girl. She came out of the canal and approached a nearby fuel station from where a rescue team rushed her to hospital.”

Able to tell her story, Sabar shares who participated in her attempted honor killing:

“I was tortured and shot by my father Maqsood Ahmad, brother Faisal Maqsood, uncle Ashfaq Ahmad and his wife Sajida Bibi.”

Her refusal to agree with an arranged marriage is the reason for the attack.

Authorities are searching for the suspects in Saba’s attack. They raided her father’s home near the city of Gujranwala, but the family abandoned it, BBC reports.

BBC also notes that the attack occurred five days after Saba Maqsood married the man loves.

Ali Akbar says Sabar’s life is out of danger now as she recovers from what many conservatives in the nation believe is an “honor killing.”

Last month another Pakistani woman was attacked for marrying the man she loved. Farzana Iqbal was stoned by her own relatives in broad daylight in the city of Lahore — only she didn’t survive. Farzana and her husband were at the gates of the high court when she was murdered.

As many as 869 cases of honor killings in 2013 were reported by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. There are many more believed to happen that aren’t reported.

[Image via Reuters/Yaqoob Shahzad]