Family of Brit mum, who died in Pakistan, appeals to Johnson for fresh inquiry

THE parents of a woman- who died in Pakistan ten days ago- have now appealed to UK prime minister Boris Johnson and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan to look into the case, a report stated on Friday (9). The family and friends have also appealed that the deceased woman's children should be brought back to their grandparents in the UK.

Kelsey Devlin, a 27-year-old carer and mother of two from Burnley in Lancashire, died on June 30 in a hospital in Rawalpindi, soon after arriving in Pakistan along with her two children. However, the inconsistencies in her death certificate and conflicting accounts have led the family and friends in the UK to suspect some foul play in her death.

While Devlin’s death certificate mentions sepsis, a stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest, it also said to have many basic inconsistencies such as getting her age wrong, incorrectly stating she was a Muslim and married, and falsely claiming that she had epilepsy since birth.

Claiming that they were given conflicting accounts of how she fell ill shortly after arriving in Pakistan, Devlin’s parents said that they were first told she had a stomach bug and then coronavirus while she herself told a colleague that she had been admitted with suspected malaria, a media report said.

Writing to Khan over the matter, Burnley MP Antony Higginbotham and Bradford West MP Naz Shah claimed that Devlin’s family “genuinely believe that there is the possibility that Kelsey was killed, with her relationship with her partner described as one of coercion and control.”

Claiming that Devlin’s case "has chilling similarities to that of Samia Shahid, who was brutally raped and murdered in Pakistan in 2016", the MPs have also requested for exhumation of Devlin’s body “for the purpose of a full autopsy and repatriation to the UK, and [for] the children to be returned to the UK to their grandparents.”

Even if the mother-of-two died due to some illness, her family and friends "still has a right to transparency of the circumstances surrounding her death and the illness that caused it”, the MPs wrote in the letter.

One of the Devlin’s colleagues told The Guardian that Devlin was in a relationship with a Pakistani man with whom she had two children and the man was keen to give his children Islamic education in Pakistan.

Devlin reportedly travelled to Pakistan along with her ex and two children- her eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son- in June since she was told that the children’s paternal grandmother was critically ill.

Higginbotham also claimed that he had asked Foreign Office officials in Pakistan to check on Devlin after her family raised concerns about her well being before her death. The officials went to the hospital but reportedly could not meet her.