Cliff Notes
- Hira Anwar, killed on a trip to Pakistan; a 14-year-old girl from Yonkers, New York, initially felt comfortable expressing her identity by removing her hijab after being dropped off at school.
- Tragically, Hira was shot and killed in January during a trip to Quetta, Pakistan, with her father, Anwar ul-Haq Rajpoot.
- Her father initially claimed the shooting was a random act of violence; however, subsequent police investigations revealed he had orchestrated the incident.
- Mr. Rajpoot confessed to the crime, stating that Hira’s lifestyle and choices, perceived as shameful to the family, motivated him to have his daughter killed.
Her Father Took Her on a Trip to Pakistan
In late January, while on a trip to Pakistan in his hometown of Quetta in Pakistan, Anwar ul-Haq Rajpoot’s daughter, Hira Anwar, was fatally shot outside of her father’s family home. The police in Pakistan reported that Rajpoot had planned the trip to set up his daughter’s murder, claiming it was a response to her behavior, which he deemed embarrassing.
A tragic tale of a trip to Pakistan that turned into an honour killings. There is a diminishing culture in Pakistan, where the pressure of societies are sometimes too much for some people to cope with.
A trip to Pakistan
When Hira Anwar’s father dropped her off every morning at middle school, she would duck out of his car and scamper up the steps of Public School 16 in Yonkers, N.Y., the Westchester County town where she grew up.
Inside, Hira would greet her principal and catch up with her classmates, sharing tracks by her favorite band, Chase Atlantic, or TikTok videos of the singer Zayn Malik, whom everyone knew she had a particular crush on because he was of Pakistani descent, as she was.
Then, a few months ago, something changed: When her father’s car was out of sight of the school, Hira, 14, would remove her hijab. Hira’s principal took notice, and, concerned that she was being bullied to conform, she pulled Hira aside to check in.
Hira said it was the opposite, according to her principal: She finally felt free to express herself.
That freedom did not last long
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.