KARACHI:A callous woman was arrested in Karachi after allegedly slitting the throat of her two young children amid a custody dispute with her former husband in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase-VI, police said on Thursday.
According to a police report, the victims, identified as Zarar, 8, and Samia, 4, died at their home in Karachi’s Defense Phase 6 area early on Thursday morning. Police said the mother was taken into custody at the scene and was being interrogated.
The police’s initial reports indicated that the mother used a sharp-edged weapon to kill the children.
The woman’s former husband, Ghufran Khalid, told police she was “mentally ill,” according to the statement.
“A lady namely Adeeba Ghufran w/o Ghufran has killed her two kids … cut the necks with a sharp knife of her kids due to a divorce issue with her husband,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Karachi Syed Asad Raza told the media.
He said the woman sent photographs of the children after the killing to her former husband, who then called the police helpline.
According to SSP South Mahzor Ali, the couple divorced last September, followed by a custody battle in which the court granted custody to the father. The children lived with him but visited their mother several days a week.
“Last night (Aug. 13), the children came from their father’s home to stay with their mother,” Ali said, adding that she allegedly killed them the next morning and then sent a video of the incident to her ex-husband, who immediately alerted police.
A rescue team found the children dead with their throats slit, and the mother was taken into custody. He said the father would file a police complaint after burying the children.
According to authorities, the suspect appears to be suffering from psychological issues, and further investigations are underway.
