LAHORE: A British woman of Pakistani origin has been found dead after being shot at a house in the eastern city of Lahore, police said on Tuesday, with local media reporting on Wednesday that a case had been registered against two men in connection with the death. 

According to local media reports, police suspect the woman, 25-year-old Mahira Zulfiqar, was killed after she refused a marriage proposal.

“Zulfiquar arrived in Pakistan two months ago to attend a wedding and was staying at a rented home with her friend,” AP reported. 

Authorities say Pakistan’s foreign ministry was in touch with the police over the matter.

“Quoting the initial postmortem report, the investigation officer of the case, Defense Circle Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sidra Khan, said Mahira had received two bullets — one to her neck and another to her arm. Bruises were also found on her right hand and left foot,” Dawn reported. “Police have taken her housemate into custody as part of the probe.”

The complainant in the police case is Zulfiqar’s uncle, Mohammad Nazeer, a resident of Lahore, who is quoted in the police report as saying Zulfiqar had informed him of threats from her friends Zahir Jadoon and Saad Ameer Butt and said she feared for her life. 

“According to the complainant, the reason for the dispute was that suspect Saad had been forcing Mahira to marry him, while Zahir too desired to marry her. However, Mahira had outright refused to marry either of them,” according to the police report quoted in Dawn. 

“Nazeer said he suspected that Zahir and Saad along with their two unknown accomplices had murdered Mahira at around 4-5am on Monday after careful planning. On his complaint, a case was registered against the suspects under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code,” Dawn reported. 

Cantt Operations Superintendent of Police Sayyed Ali told media an unidentified caller had alerted police about the murder.