British family shot dead in Pakistan

A British couple and their daughter were gunned down in a graveyard in Pakistan after their son’s arranged marriage with a local…

A British couple and their daughter were gunned down in a graveyard in Pakistan after their son’s arranged marriage with a local woman went wrong.

Mohammad and Pervaze Yousaf and their 22-year-old daughter Tania, from Nelson in Lancashire, were visiting the country for a wedding when they were attacked, according to police.

They were killed in a village in the district of Gujrat in north-east Pakistan in the early hours of yesterday after a row over the relationship between a son of Mr and Mrs Yousaf and a local woman, according to a family friend.

Two of the alleged gunmen were arrested and police were hunting another two suspects in connection with the attack, which left another woman dead.

Family friend Mohammed Iqbal claimed they were killed while paying their respects during a visit to a cemetery.

Mr Iqbal, who sits on Pendle Borough Council and Lancashire County Council, said: "They were leaving the graveyard of someone that had passed away. It was a family dispute that obviously went horribly wrong.

"Mr Yousaf's son was married to a girl from Pakistan and there have been some problems with the marriage and that's the dispute that's happened."

He added that two of Mr Yousaf's sons had returned early to Lancashire from Pakistan but had flown back to the country after being told of the deaths. "They went for a wedding and a holiday and they are now having to bury members of their famil," he said.