An 18-year-old Pakistani woman “miraculously survived” after being shot and thrown into a canal by her father for marrying against the family’s wishes, police said on Saturday.
Local police officer Ali Akbar said the teenager’s father, with help from some of his close relatives, attacked her in Hafizabad on Wednesday.
Mr. Akbar said Saba Maqsood was in love with a man from a nearby city and married him last week, but her father Ahmed brought her back to his home, promising she would not be harmed. Mr. Akbar said her family members beat her, and the following day Ahmed took her to a deserted area and tried to kill her.
The woman told police her two uncles looked on as her father shot her in the face, put her in a burlap sack and threw her into a canal, Mr. Akbar said.
“Saba Maqsood told us that her father and other relatives had assumed that she was dead, but she regained consciousness, opened the sack and came out of the canal,” he said. He said she made her way to a gas station, where she alerted a security guard.
“We are raiding different places in an effort to capture her father and all those who participated in the assault,” he said.
