Sunday, alleged suspects set fire to houses in Meevo Kaladi village near Rohri in Sukkur. As a result of the fire, 12 houses were completely destroyed and a four-year-old girl died, the media reported.
According to media reports, the firefighters reached the scene and put out the fire. The burnt four-year-old girl was also shifted to the hospital. Authorities are yet to investigate the cause of the fire.
However, victims of the fire told the media that a girl named Sughra Chohan had two days ago eloped from her house with a man Moin Panhwar and solemnized a love marriage. In retaliation, the Chohan clan to which the girl belonged, set fire to the houses of Moin Panhwar.
Read more: Hindu girl killed after turning down marriage proposal
Pakistan’s issue with love marriages
Important to note that intolerance toward love marriage still persists in some segments of Pakistani society, especially inter-tribe free-will marriages. As a result, couples are forced to run away from homes and elope, which too is considered “dishonorable”.
Such measures usually lead to honor killing. For instance, in 2019, a woman was allegedly shot dead by her brother in Karachi’s Saeedabad neighborhood after contracting a free-will marriage. According to details, the slain woman belonged to the Rind tribe while her husband hails from the Brohi tribe.
in Karachi's Korangi today, man and a girl have been killed in what has been reported as honor killing,
both were stoned to death for love marriage, killers REPORTEDLY belong to Sindh's Larkana— خالد (@khalid_pk) August 5, 2020
In a similar incident, in 2021, a couple who got married of their own choice was shot dead by the woman’s brothers in Jaranwala tehsil. The brothers killed both of them in resentment.
Read more: Gunmen open fire on couple in Karachi over love marriage
Recently, a couple was killed in Peshawar allegedly over a love marriage. Bodies of a couple were found near Sufaid Sang Road within the limits of Pir Bala Police Station a week ago. Acting on information about the presence of two bodies alongside a road, the police team reached the spot and recovered both the bodies that were later sent to Khyber Medical College through Edhi ambulance.