One of the ugliest crimes in 2014 was the murder of a pregnant woman near Lahore High Court (LHC) premises on May 27 in the name of honour.
Farzana Parveen, 25, had married one Iqbal without the approval and consent of her family, who filed a kidnapping case against Iqbal. When she came to the LHC to record her statement, around a dozen men bludgeoned her with bricks. Iqbal alleged later that several policemen present on the scene had not tried to save his wife.
The crime shocked the country and the prime minister ordered police to take immediate action.
Police then registered a case against Parveen’s father Muhammad Azeem; brothers Zahid Iqbal and Ghulam Ali, former husband Mazhar Abbas and a cousin, Jahan Khan. They were all arrested.
On November 19, Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Haroon Latif awarded 13-year imprisonment to Ali and death sentence to the remaining four.
Read the full year-in review here.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2014.