
A man who recently moved his family back to Pakistan from the US has admitted to killing his teenage daughter after he disapproved of her videos on TikTok, police said. Anwar ul-Haq was charged with murder after admitting to shooting his daughter Hira in the city of Quetta in the southwestern province of Balochistan on Tuesday. Earlier, he told investigators that unidentified men were responsible for the shooting.
The father, an American citizen, said he was offended by some of his daughter’s posts. Police said all angles were open, including that of an honour killing, a not uncommon thing in the country.
Hundreds of people-most of them women in so-called honour killings in Pakistan every year, human rights groups report. These killings are usually carried out by relatives who say they are acting in defence of their family’s honour.
A police spokesman said Hira Anwar, who was between 13 and 14 years old, “had an objection to her dressing, lifestyle and social gathering”. The family had lived in the US for 25 years and Hira started posting content on TikTok even before her family moved back to Pakistan.
In case the investigations find it to be an honour killing and the men are convicted, they will have to face a mandatory life sentence, as the Pakistani government has amended the law in 2016. Earlier, they could even get out of serving any jail term if they were pardoned by the victim’s family.
An Italian court in 2023 handed a Pakistani couple life sentences for killing their 18-year-old daughter because she refused an arranged marriage.
Last year, the brother of Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch was acquitted of murdering her on appeal. He had earlier been sentenced to life in prison after confessing to the 2016 killing, saying it was because the star had disgraced the family.