Karachi police arrested a 37-year-old woman on Thursday for allegedly killing her two young children in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area.

“A lady killed her two children, who were eight and four years old, with a sharp knife due to a marital issue with her husband,” South DIG Syed Asad Raza told a private news channel.

The suspect has been taken into custody, and the murder weapon recovered.

The children's bodies were discovered with their throats slit, inside a home on 10th Street off Khayaban-i-Mujahid, according to the police.

“The suspect sent pictures to her ex-husband after killing the children,” DIG Raza said, adding that the father then called the police.

Both children were found dead when Darakhshan police reached the scene. 

For legal formalities, the bodies were transferred to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. According to Dr. Summaiya Syed, a police surgeon, children died as a result of slit throats, which damaged vital structures and vessels in the neck.

“Swabs have also been collected to rule out sexual violence,” she added. 

A passerby told the private news channel that police, media, and an ambulance were gathered outside the house earlier in the day. 

“I passed by a house and saw loads of police officers, an Edhi ambulance, and a DSNG van from some channel parked on the road leading to Bahria,” she said.

"On the way back, I saw that one cameraman and another person were still there. I asked what had happened. They told me that a woman had killed her two young children, was reportedly struggling with a mental health condition, and was going through a divorce," she elaborated.

According to DIG Raza, the couple got divorced last year, and the father was granted custody of the children, while the mother was allowed to see them.

The father told the authorities that he had been providing for her financially and that the suspect was "emotionally disturbed."

According to DIG Raza, the suspect met her husband in 2012, married him, and later enrolled at a Karachi institution affiliated with a British university. She did not complete her studies. She had held minor jobs but no regular employment.

In her initial statement to investigators, the suspect reportedly said she did not wish to defend herself as there was “nothing logical or reasonable enough for the murder.”

DIG Raza quoted her as saying she woke up between 8:30 and 9:00am and saw her children having breakfast with her mother. She then contacted her ex-husband, but did not provide details of their conversation.

“She claimed that the children were telling her to ‘send them somewhere where they could not face such a situation, which she (the mother) was facing,’” he said, adding that she did not clarify whether the “situation” referred to an undesirable attitude from their father.

DIG Raza said the woman admitted to taking medication for psychiatric issues. Police suspect she may have been under the influence of drugs at the time.

A report by civil society organisation Sahil, Cruel Numbers 2024, recorded 3,364 child abuse cases from across Pakistan in 2024, based on data from 81 newspapers. The report highlights incidents of sexual abuse, abduction, missing children, and child marriages involving victims under the age of 18.