HIV positive Pak woman murdered by husband after objecting to his second marriage decision

A 30-year old HIV positive Pakistani woman was killed by her husband in Sindh province after she objected to his decision to marry again, police said.

The incident happened in a village near Larkana district on Wednesday when the husband of Kareema Rind insisted for a second marriage after she was recently tested HIV positive during a blood test.

The HIV positive woman who had five children refused to allow the second marriage and her husband, Bahadur Rind with the help of his brothers strangled the woman and hanged her from the tree in the village, Faheem Tunio, a police officer, said.

The body was handed over to relatives after post-mortem examination, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The police registered an FIR against Bahadur, his brother Darya Khan Rind and relative Johar Rind on the complaint of Akbar Rind, brother of the deceased, the paper reported.

Nearly 700 HIV positive cases have been identified among the 21,375 tested in Larkana within the last few weeks, and out of the affected, 537 are between the ages of 2 to 15.

Health officials have attributed the cause to the use of unsanitary equipment, unsafe blood transfusion and rampant malpractice often at the hands of quacks.

A delegation of the United Nations bodied, including the WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF, are already in Karachi to help the Sindh health authorities to investigate the alarming outbreak of HIV in the district.

A WHO spokesperson said the delegation would also help the health ministry of the Sindh province to find the root cause of the outbreak through a geographical mapping process and providing HIV treatment kits for the children.

Muzaffar Ghangro, a doctor from the district, who was arrested on the suspicion of having spread the HIV virus with infected needles at his clinic has been cleared of intentionally spreading the deadly virus in Ratodero town.

A Joint investigation team of the Sindh police said that they had exonerated the doctor of deliberately infecting the people with the virus but it confirmed the doctor was one of the major sources for the virus' spread.