PESHAWAR: A British couple have been murdered in an apparent honour killing in North-West Pakistan after they called off their daughter's planned wedding to a local man.
Gul Wazir, a taxi driver from Birmingham’s Alum Rock and wife Begum were shot dead Salehana, a village known as "Little England" for its high number of migrants to Britain, on Monday last week.
The news of their murders was not reported because of disruption caused by floods in the area.
Their son was also wounded in the incident but survived.
The couple had travelled to the village from Britain after their daughter told them she wanted to call off the wedding plans because she didn’t want to marry a man from Pakistan.
"The husband and wife had already promised their daughter to a man. When that arrangement ended he was not happy," a friend of the family said.
“Gul and his wife went to Pakistan to try to sort it out, but this man went crazy and shot them for breaking off the engagement. This is a tragedy. They were honest, decent people."
Police said they had begun a murder inquiry into the killings.
“They were decent people. Very simple and peaceful,” said Jamil Shah, 45, from the same village. "Gul was highly respected and was a regular visitor for weddings in the village.
"It’s a classic case of honour killing which is very common in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The people kill their daughters and sisters if they elope and marry someone without family consent", Nowshera police officer Riaz Khan told The Daily Telegraph.
In this particular case, the girl had been engaged to a relative in the village and the groom believed he would be shamed if the woman married someone else after she had been promised to him, he added.
The village and surrounding area has seen a number of similar honour killings in recent years. A friend of Mr Gul said another Birmingham man was killed in the village in identical circumstances 18 months earlier.