THE family of a Scots businessman murdered with his wife in a suspected "honour" killing has raised concerns over the chance of getting justice six months after the deaths.
Relatives of Saif Rehman say they have received no news of positive progress in interviewing or extraditing the chief suspect from the US to Pakistan.
Mr Rehman, 31, and his American wife Uzma Naurin, 30, were shot dead when their car was ambushed on November 1 in Lalamusa in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
His brother, Abdul Majid, said the family had received no word that the chief suspect – Ms Naurin's American father, Muzafar Hussain, who lives in New Jersey – has either been apprehended or questioned and has appealed for urgency in bringing his brother's killers to justice.
Amnesty International has raised concerns that gender-based violence, including rape, forced marriages, so-called honour killings, acid attacks and other domestic violence are being committed with impunity in Pakistan as police "were reluctant to register and investigate complaints".
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan recorded 791 honour killings of women last year, with at least 26 of them raped or gang raped before being murdered.
In the Gujrat district of Punjab, where the killings of Mr Rehman and his wife took place, more than 40 women were murdered in a four-month period this year. Most of those killed were accused of dishonouring their families.
However, human rights activists fear many more killings go unreported, and the perpetrators, often close family members, go unpunished.
Mr Majid, 24, told the Herald: "The main thing is to bring Uzma's father from America to Pakistan. They are delaying all the time, wasting time.
"For me, I just need justice. I'm looking for justice and I still hope there will be justice soon."
Mr Rehman's Pakistani parents, Mohammad and Gulnisa Zakir, wrote to the US ambassador in Pakistan, Cameron Munter, several months ago for help in tracing those responsible for the shooting of their son and his American wife.
Mr Majid said they are still trying to get justice in Pakistan.
Local police have not responded to requests for information from The Herald.
The couple were gunned down while in Pakistan for the wedding of one of Mr Rehman's brothers. Mr Rehman and his wife had planned after the wedding to settle down to a new life together in the US, having had a long-distance marriage over the previous three years.
Mr Rehman was shot dead in front of his sister, Fauzia, and two-year-old niece in Lalamusa.
The killers kidnapped Ms Naurin. They took her to an isolated spot 10 minutes away and shot her before dumping her body in bushes.
Ms Naurin, who lived in New York, was the first woman in her family to shun the traditional arranged marriage and wed someone outside of the family.
It is said her parents could not accept it and she moved out of the family home.
It is understood she had been married previously, but her first husband took his own life.
Ms Naurin subsequently refused to enter an arranged second marriage with her late first husband's brother because he was too young.
Mr Rehman and Ms Naurin were married in a private ceremony in Glasgow with just three witnesses three years ago.
They held a walima (marriage banquet) at the Kabana Restaurant in Kinning Park in June last year in the hope Mr Hussain, who had flown to Scotland from the US, might come round to the idea of the wedding.
On the day of the killing, Mr Hussain discharged himself from the army-run CMH Kharian Cantonment hospital in Gujrat where he was having a minor operation.
The family say he never went to the funeral and police say he drove to the port city of Karachi in a rental car and boarded a flight for the US.
Mr Hussain has denied involvement in the deaths but has not yet been questioned by authorities.
Adil Ahmed – who was driving the Rehmans' car when it was stopped by the gunmen – was arrested by Pakistani police after disappearing from the scene of the murders.
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