Her Father Took Her on a Trip to Pakistan. The Police Say It Was a Trap.
Hira Anwar was pulled out of middle school for what she thought was a vacation. Her death is being investigated as a so-called honor killing.
By Sarah Maslin Nir and Zia ur-Rehman
In late January, while on a vacation with her father to his hometown, Quetta, Pakistan, Hira was shot to death in front of her father’s family home. Shortly after, her father, Anwar ul-Haq Rajpoot, tearfully told the police that a random attack had taken his daughter’s life. But the Pakistani police now say that the shooting, and in fact the entire trip, was a trap that he orchestrated.
In a chilling confession, Mr. Rajpoot told investigators he ordered Hira’s execution because her behavior was an embarrassment. Mr. Rajpoot had his daughter killed, he told the police, because “Hira’s clothing choices, lifestyle and social relationships” had brought her family shame.
In Yonkers, her school, her friends and her family are reeling, unable to process the death of an eighth grader whose sass impressed her teachers and whose staunch character made her a go-to referee among her girlfriends.
“It is hard for us to even understand mentally that this actually happened,” the eldest of her two sisters, Heba Anwar, 22, said before declining to comment further. “We were living a very happy nice life.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/nyregion/hira-anwar-honor-killing-pakistan.html