Pakistani-origin British woman was 'murdered': police

Pakistan-origin British woman who died last month in mysterious circumstances was "murdered", Pakistani authorities said today, raising suspicions that she was a victim of "honour killing".
Samia Shahid, 28, was found dead on July 20 at her parents' house in Mangla area of Jhelum district in Punjab province.
Her husband Syed Mukhtar Kazim registered a FIR on July 23 against Samia's father, mother, sister, cousin Mobeen and her former husband for allegedly murdering her as they were not happy with the marriage.
Kazim claimed in the FIR that Samia had been killed by her family who refused to accept their relationship because he belonged to the Shia sect.

Her father initially said that she died due to cardiac arrest but later changed his stance and told police that she had committed suicide.
A high level probe led by senior police official Abu Bakr Khuda Bakhash concluded that she was suffocated to death.

"Yes, it is true that she was strangled to death and it is murder," said Bakhash.
A beauty therapist from Bradford, Samia had previously been married to her first cousin Shakil but the couple parted ways after divorce in May 2014.
She then married Kazim of Taxila in September 2014 and both started living in Dubai.

Samia, a resident of Dhok Pandori village, Jehlum, some 230 km from Lahore, had come to Pakistan from Dubai about last month to see her ailing father.
Earlier, British MP Naz Shah had alerted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that Samia might have been killed for honour.
Honour killing is common in Pakistan. Hundreds of women are killed every year for so-called honour.
Samia's murder came over a week after social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch was strangled by her brother in a so-called 'honour killing' which caused an international uproar forcing the Pakistani government to announce strict action against those involved in her murder.