THE husband of a Bradford woman who he claims was killed in a so-called honour killing in Pakistan says he is running out of time.
Syed Mukhtar Kazam is currently in hiding in the country as he fights to bring his wife’s killers to justice.
Samia Shahid, 28, died three weeks ago after travelling from Dubai, where she and Mr Kazam lived, to Pakistan following reports her father was seriously ill.
Her husband flew out straight away after hearing of her death.
He claims she was killed by her family because they were against their marriage.
He liaised with Pakistani authorities to have her body exhumed and a subsequent forensic report comfirmed she had been murdered.
Bradford West MP Naz Shah has also offered her help to Mr Kazam and has met with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London.
She told the Telegraph & Argus. “Not a great deal else has happened but I have been told that her former husband, one of the accused in the alleged honour-killing, has been forced to surrender his passport so at least he will not be able to leave the country.”
Mr Kazam said: “It is a waiting game but I am running out of time. The accused, including Samia’s former husband, were supposed to be present in court on August 6 but did not appear. The judge has now extended the date to the 13th.
The accused are to appear in court in Jhelum, in Pakistan’s Punjab Province.
“I do not know why they did not appear, but it all seems as if nothing matters. The judge even extended bail. This is a murder investigation, not someone who’s stolen ten bucks. Why extend bail? Someone has been killed; my wife has been kikked” he said.
“I am frustrated, upset, and stressed. I am running out of time with my job in Dubai. I work for a paint manufacturer. They have compromised on my time out here but they are wanting me back. I may have one or two weeks more, I don’t know.
“I think that is what the family wants. If I stay they will try and kill me and I will be out of the way. if I leave and go back to Dubia I will be out of the way. Either way the case will drop and they will go free. I feel I am on my own even though I have friends and some family over here. I am worried.
“I am still moving around from place to place in hiding. The police said they would give me security but they have done nothing.
“But I feel I must stay as long as I can for the sake of my love and for the sake of other people all over the world. I am standing up for everyone. If I had not come back here nothing would ever have been done. It is unbelievable. This is not some Third World family that gets rid of someone, these are educated people and they have killed my wife.”
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