A court in Quetta, Pakistan sentenced Anwar-ul-Haq, a US citizen who previously lived in New York, to life in prison for orchestrating the murder of his 14-year-old daughter Hira Anwar. The sentence, handed down on June 21, 2026, also applied to his brother-in-law Muhammad Tayyab Bhatti, who was convicted as a co-conspirator in the premeditated killing.
Hira Anwar was a dual US-Pakistani citizen and an eighth-grade student from Yonkers, New York. She was lured to Pakistan and killed between January 27 and 28, 2025, in Quetta.
A murder rooted in social media objections
The court classified the killing as an honor murder. According to court records, the motive centered on the family’s objections to Hira’s TikTok videos and her broader lifestyle choices, which clashed with the family’s cultural expectations.
The case initially appeared to be something else entirely. Anwar-ul-Haq claimed his daughter had been killed by unidentified gunmen, a story that fell apart under investigation. Authorities uncovered a far more calculated plan, one that involved close relatives conspiring to end a teenager’s life over her social media presence.
