Woman who spurned suitor burnt to death

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Activists demanded an end to gender-related violence on International Women’s Day in March

A Pakistani woman who was set on fire for refusing a marriage proposal has died of her injuries.

Maria Sadaqat, a schoolteacher in her early 20s, was attacked in her home by a group of men on Sunday and died in hospital in Islamabad on Wednesday.

Her family say she had turned down a marriage proposal from the son of the owner of a school she had taught at.

Campaigners say attacks against women who refuse marriage proposals are common in Pakistan.

Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif launched an immediate investigation into the killing, which will report in two days.

Maria’s father has said the school owner was one of the men who attacked his daughter. Police told the BBC that the men beat her and doused her in petrol before setting her alight near the hill resort of Murree, not far from the capital.

She suffered serious burns on nearly all of her body. Local media report that she had 85% burns.

Nearly 1,100 women were killed in Pakistan last year in so-called honour-killings, the country’s independent Human Rights Commission says.

Most are by relatives, but a small number carried out by people outside the family are also related to perceived loss of honour, correspondents say.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in April: “The predominant causes of these killings in 2015 were domestic disputes, alleged illicit relations and exercising the right of choice in marriage.”

Campaigners say most “honour killings” are not reported.

The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that in many cases, including those reported to the police, relatives hoping to keep the family name out of the news prefer to make out-of-court settlements and therefore there are no convictions.

Under Islamic laws introduced in the 1980s the victim’s family can pardon the perpetrator in return for money or other considerations.

In February, Punjab province, where the attack on Miss Sadaqat happened, passed a landmark law criminalising all forms of violence against women.

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groups, including all the mainstream Islamic political parties, threatened to launch protests if the law was not repealed.

Religious groups have equated women’s rights campaigns with promotion of obscenity. They say the new Punjab law will increase the divorce rate and destroy the country’s traditional family system.

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Woman who spurned suitor burnt to death
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