Family shot dead in Pakistan in row over arranged marriage

A BRITISH couple and their daughter were gunned down in Pakistan after an arranged marriage ended in murder.

Father-of-six Mohammad Yousaf, 51, his wife Pervaze Yousaf, 49, and their 22-year-old daughter Tania, had left the UK to attend the wedding of a son in Pakistan surrounded by family and friends.

But they were shot dead just days after the happy ceremony while paying respects at a family graveyard.

Members of the devastated family, from Nelson, Lancashire, were being consoled by relatives last night.

Tania's two young sons, Harris, aged nine months, and three-year-old Arien, were being looked after by relatives in Pakistan.

The Yousafs were in the country for the wedding of son Asad, 24, when they were attacked early yesterday in a village in the district of Gujrat, north-east Pakistan.

A family member in Nelson, who was among 200 guests at the wedding, said: "Everybody was enjoying themselves at the wedding and the family were visiting the graves of relatives in the village when they were shot.

"Asad got back the day before it happened. He is obviously in shock, crying, disgusted."

Two of the alleged gunmen were arrested and police were hunting another two suspects in connection with the attack, which also left another woman dead.

The relative, who did not want to be named, said the feud was sparked by the breakdown of the arranged marriage of another son of Mr Yousaf, Kamar, who wed his cousin.

The couple had two children, both girls, before they split after around ten years, with the wife moving from the family home to Manchester, possibly to a hostel.

Mr Yousaf, a taxi driver and builder, Mrs Yousaf, a housewife, and many of their extended family, like many in Nelson, come from the Pakistan town of Jaurah.

Intermarriage among first and second cousins and arranged weddings are common, according to local people.

The alleged killers are from a village in nearby Murirya, according to a family friend.

Eileen Ansar, who is married to Mr Yousaf's cousin Mohammed, said Mr Yousaf had treated his daughter-in-law well.

She said: "There have been tensions since the son and girl separated but the father treated her like his own daughter.

"He looked after the girl, kept her at his home. She is his sister's daughter, he treated her like his own daughter, he loved her and respected her."

She said most of the family went to Pakistan for Asad's wedding and Mr and Mrs Yousaf had stayed on for a few days.

"It is an absolute tragedy. You could not meet nicer people, they never did harm to anyone. It has destroyed the family," she added.

Ms Ansar, a councillor in the Clover Hill ward in Nelson, said around 70 members of the extended family flew out to Pakistan following news of the deaths.

Family friend Mohammed Iqbal, who sits on Pendle Borough Council and Lancashire County Council, added: "It was a family dispute that obviously went horribly wrong."

He said two of Mr Yousaf's sons had returned early to Lancashire from Pakistan but had flown back to the country after being told of the deaths.

He said: "They went for a wedding and a holiday, and they are now having to bury members of their family."

Lancashire police said officers were providing support to family members in Nelson and were working with Pakistani authorities.

The funeral of all three British victims took place yesterday, in accordance with Muslim religious rules.

MEP will raise concerns over British citizens' security

THE killings of members of the Yousaf family have prompted questions about the security of British citizens visiting Pakistan.

MEP Sajjad Karim, who said he knew the Yousaf family well, said he would raise the issue when he held talks early next month with the country's prime minister.

Mr Karim will meet Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is attending a Pakistan-EU summit in Brussels in the first week of June.

He said: "I really have to start asking, are British citizens being afforded appropriate protection, and, generally speaking, the answer is I am not sure they are.

"There has been a growing number of incidents involving people from my constituency recently, including the kidnapping of the boy from Oldham and the murder of a man from Bolton.

"It is too easy for the Foreign Office to give advice not to travel, but we are dealing with communities that still retain lots of links with Pakistan and they have no choice but to go. People are obliged to go to weddings, funerals and the like."

He added, though, that the Gujrat region was usually "relatively safe".

The Conservative MEP said he had known Mr Yousaf personally since 1986.

"Both Mr and Mrs Yousaf played a full part in the community. They were always there and very forthcoming in their support of events," he said.