attackers, before she died on 1 June.

Police initially arrested four men, including the owner of a school where Ms Sadaqat taught not far from the capital Islamabad.

Ms Sadaqat's family said the attackers had wanted revenge because she had rejected a marriage proposal from the school owner's son, because he was already married with a child.

However, a police investigation concluded a month later that the victim had taken her own life, leading to the release of the suspects on bail.

'Rising honour killings'

On Wednesday, a committee by the Supreme Court Bar Association said Ms Sadaqat could not have committed suicide and that the nature of her burn injuries suggested she had been attacked.

"Neither Maria's hands were burnt nor her feet were burnt," Supreme Court Bar President Ali Zafar told reporters,adding that this matched her statement where she said she had been held to the ground by four men.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Activists protesting against gender based violence

The fact finding panel had gathered information from the scene of the attack and interviewed family members, doctors and police.

Its report also suggests that there had been a campaign of "character assassination" against the victim and her family, probably in an effort to silence them.

"The mission strongly feels that flawed investigations encourage crimes against women and this is one of the reasons that honour killings are on the rise," the report said.

Image caption Mourners at the Maria Sadaqat's funeral

Nearly 1,100 women were killed in so-called honour killings in Pakistan last year, the country's independent Human Rights Commission says.

Violence against women