Husband sought after Pakistani teenager killed on wedding night

Nearly 1,100 women were killed in Pakistan last year by relatives who believed they had dishonoured their families, according to a recent report.

Pakistan's largest province passed a landmark law criminalising all forms of violence against women, but more than 30 religious groups have threatened to launch protests if the law is not repealed (AFP/ GETTY IMAGES)

The husband of a 17-year-old girl is being sought by police in Pakistan after she was found strangled to death the day after her wedding.

Khanzadi Lashari married her cousin, Qalandar Bux Khokhar, the night before her body was found in her bedroom when policemen forced their way into the house in the ADC Colony area of Jacobabad, the Express Tribune newspaper reported. Her husband was said to be missing.

Khanzadi's brother, Ali Sher Lashari, lodged a formal complaint with police, accusing Mr Khokhar and his four brothers of killing her.

Photographs of the dead teenager were shared on social media and some speculated that she could have been killed by her husband for not being a virgin. However others claimed that she and her husband had had a heated argument over the wedding arrangements.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) spoke out about the Khanzadi's death, saying there should "be zero tolerance to culprits involved in these inhuman acts".

A statement released by the party said its chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, had taken "serious notice of murder of newly wed bride Khanzadi Lashari under so-called honour killing in Jacobabad".

“He said that his party won’t tolerate the killing of innocent and helpless women in the name of so-called honour and those involved in such heinous crimes won’t be spared by the law," the statement added.

Nearly 1,100 women were killed in Pakistan last year by relatives who believed they had dishonoured their families, the country's independent Human Rights Commission recently reported.

According to the report, most of the 1,096 victims were shot, but attacks with acid were also common, and it is believed that a large number of cases go unreported.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, filmmaker and an Oscar-winner at this year's Academy Awards for her documentary film A Girl in the River, which was inspired by the issue of honour killings, shared the photographs of Khanzadi's body on Twitter with the hashtag "shame".

But more than 30 religious groups, including all the mainstream Islamic political parties, have threatened to launch protests if the law is not repealed.