The widow and mother-in-law of a man
killed by CIA contractor Raymond Davis was today murdered along with her mother
in Lahore following a family dispute over the blood money and her desire to
remarry, in Lahore, Pakistan, police officials said.
Police said that both the women were
found dead in their Jauher
Town residence.
Zehra, 23, and her mother Nabeela were
shot and killed in their home in Township area of Lahore by her father Shehzad Butt.
Zehra was the widow of Faizan Haider,
one of the two men who were shot dead by Davis
last year.
Zohra, the widow of Faizan Haider, and
her mother were shot in a family dispute at their home, said police Inspector
Javed Siddiqui. The bodies were sent to a hospital for an autopsy, and
authorities were seeking a suspect, he said.
Haider was one of two men killed in Lahore in January 2011 by
Raymond Davis, an American CIA contractor. The deaths sparked a diplomatic
tussle that strained relations between the United
States and Pakistan.
Davis said he shot
the two in self-defense when they attempted to rob him at gunpoint as he drove
through a busy Lahore
neighborhood, but authorities at the time called the case "clear-cut
murder."
He was charged with murder and illegal
possession of a firearm, but was released after more than $2 million in
compensation was paid to the victims' families, according to Pakistani
officials.
The killings caused outrage in Pakistan, a key U.S.
ally in the war against al Qaeda and Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan.
And it heightened tension between the two nations, with Congress warning
Pakistani leaders that billions of dollars in U.S.
aid could be jeopardized without Davis'
release.
Davis appeared in a Lahore court after the
payment was made and was acquitted of the charges in accordance with an Islamic
practice known as diyat, or compensation. Diyat, enshrined in Pakistan's
penal code, allows victims to pardon a murderer with or without being paid
"blood money."
Haider's widow submitted an affidavit
to court stating she had pardoned Davis
after the payment.
The heirs of Fahim Shamshad, Davis' other victim, also received payment, Rana
Sanaullah, the provincial law minister of Punjab
province, said at the time.
Davis was finally
freed when he paid millions of rupees as blood money to the families of the
dead men.
Fahim Shamshad's widow committed
suicide in Faisalabad
days after the shooting.
"Today the wife of Faizan Haider
is also no more. Money was the real bone of contention in Zehra's case,"
said Abid Hsasan, one of Zehra's neighbors.
