The murder of newlywed Shemina Cheema (formerly Shemina Hirji) in Surrey during a home invasion gone bad continues to be surrounded with an aura of unease.

It was a tragic event, but a random one, right? The perpetrators are on the run, but police expect that they will be able to track them down soon, right? Shemina was killed as a result of a knife wound, or a gun shot, or a blow to the head, or whatever, so the general public will understand just what risk is out there until the perpetrators are rounded up, right?

None of those things are being said. In fact, nothing is being said whatsoever. Secrecy has enveloped the investigation of the death of Shemina Cheema:

The family of slain Surrey school principal Shamina Cheema mourned quietly in their Burnaby home Saturday, maintaining the shroud of silence that has come to characterize the events surrounding the newlywed's murder.

"This is a death. You need to respect that," said a grieving Amir Hirji, the father of the slain woman, reiterating the family's request for privacy.

That shroud of silence is being maintained by the police. I read plenty of police service emails, and they all tend to be very forthcoming with the details of the crime, only holding back details that presumably are critical to help identify the assailant or that, if made public, would aid the assailant in his defense.

The basic circumstances of a murder are rarely kept under wraps. Not in the case of Shemina Cheema:

He said police would not be discussing the cause of death, and that not even Shamina's family will know how she died unless the case comes to trial.

The cause of death itself is a critical element of establishing the guilt of the parties once they are arrested? But this was a home invasion, right? Thugs looking for valuables to sell for drug money. They'd be armed with weapons of opportunity -- a baseball bat or a rusty kitchen knife.

The police won't even tell the family -- either because they can't afford to let the cause of death be leaked to the public at large, or because the police can't afford to let the family of Shemina Hirji know what they know.

Weird. Very weird.

And then there is the question of motive. A home invasion is generally part of a larger crime. Usually that's theft. Sometimes it is assault, or sexual assualt. But every once in a while a home invasion is perpetrated by someone intent on murder:

Cpl. Dale Carr, spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, insisted [husband Paul Cheema] is not a suspect in his forty-year-old wife's slaying.

He said there is no indication it was a targeted hit.

Still the police will be interviewing the families. It is not at all likely Paul Cheema had anything to do with this, but he does come from an extended family of Sikhs, who probably weren't too happy with Paul marrying a Muslim, and more that Shemina's family was happy with her choice of Paul as a husband:

Carr also said the families of both Shamina and Paul will be interviewed by IHIT investigators. There has been widespread media speculation that Paul's family, who are Sikh, may have disapproved of his marriage to Shamina, who belonged to the Ismaili Muslim community.

"The Sikhs and Muslims, they strongly oppose (inter-religious) marriages," commented Sukhminder Cheema, news director for Radio India. "Not everyone, but the majority ... Sometimes the families don't like each other."

Sukhminder Cheema is right about that. I had no problems finding literally dozens of message boards filled with postings from people in exactly the situation that Paul Cheema and Shamina Hirji were in before they were married, and with responses from people who feel very strongly that mixed marriages are not only doomed to fail, but threaten the religious community as a whole.

First, a sad story:

One of my closest mates, a female sikh, fell deeply in love with this guy. They dated for almost 9 months, he knew she was a sikh and she "thought" he was a sikh as well cause he spoke hindi and looked like a sikh. One day they were both having a conversation, then he tell the truth. He told her that he infact was a muslim.

She knew immediatly to break off the relationship because she felt soo "distressed". knowing that she will be in HUGE trouble if anyone in her family finds out.

She still loves this guy, but she know she cannot go back to him. When she told me over the phone, i was sooo angry, i my self have had alot of trouble with muslims in the past, and this just added to my anger.

What would have happened if he never told the truth? this what i think most of the time.

i do think its wrong for a muslim and a sikh to get married. marriage between a muslim and a sikh will cause alot of conflict in families and will also deeply affect the future of the couple.

And then the angry post:

Your messed up! You good honest Sikh men and women shouldnt even be having this conversation, Sikh and Muslims have never got on and never will, it is a Muslims duty by way of religon to convert someone to his or her faith, it's belived that all thier sins and wrong doings are forgiven if they can convert a so called non muslim to thier faith, they will get a one way ticket to heaven,Hindu's killed thousands in India over the assasination on Indera Ghandi,She gave the order to attack out Golden Temple, im not saying it was right for the terrorists to be in there but she could have used a little more tact, so how we see our Hindu brothers as our friends in debateable, we are the minority here and in India yet we have the stongest faith and the fairest and youngest one, we must keep it together and pass on our gurus teaching to our kids and thier kids.Our Lords didnt die in vain! Sikh and Muslim weddings don't and won't work

The warning about mixing it up with "born enemies" (whose women are wanton sluts, by the way):

i agree with you all the way jass. but whats really sad is that some kuriyan just DONT GIV A F*K. theyr struttin around with anything that carries a thingy...sounds harsh but ull be amazed at how many girls are out there looking all innocent when all they can think bout is getin popped. its messed. these ppl are the ones who WILL be teaching their kids wrong. and if you look aroung u, i bet there is not even one girl that has never been into a relationship...?as for marrying out of sikhism, too many girls are livin up to the 21st century, where contraceptive, 'LOVE" and takeaways are the way of living...well they are too wrong. muslim and sikh marriages....dont get me started. it is the biggest paap to marry our born enemies. jass one thing u might not hav known- some sikhs believe that hindus r bigger trators rather then muslims...evidence??? indhira gandhi and her f*kd up mind...her son who let hindus invade punjab after his mothers death and was the cause of thousands of deaths...the indian gov't who even to this day, have not given khalistan its existant. now muslims, we have our grudges with them too, but we mustnt forget that the first stone laid on building the Golden Temple was by a muslim, before all the conflicts we incurred. he laid the stone in the same place we bow our heads to, the place our sikhs drink their Amrit, and the place known as our motherland. the point to all this???- stick to our religeon. its all about respect and dignity to your roots.

Why just ban mixed marriages?

I AM A MUSLIM GUY. MUSLIMS & SIKHS SHOULD NOT GET MARRIED. MUSLIMS AND SIKHS SHOULD NOT EVEN BE FRIENDS.

According to Sukhminder Cheema, the majority of Sikhs and Muslims feel this way. I tend to believe him. As I tend to believe that this home invasion might very well be part of a larger crime.

Or then it might just be a home invasion gone wrong:

[Paul Cheema] said a tall white male wearing a brown suit and a dark-skinned male wearing a ski mask were in the house. A third suspect could not be identified.

Vancouver police are searching for trio of culprits with similar descriptions believed involved in a home invasion last Monday in the 1600 block of East 60th Avenue.

"When you're looking at the similarities you're seeing if you have a group of culprits that have gone from community to community." said IHIT Cpl. Dale Carr.

Hopefully we'll know soon enough.

Check out other entries from the Shemina Hirji category
Results will open in a new window.

Check out what Canadian bloggers have posted about Shemina Hirji
Results will open in a new window.

Check out what has been written about Shemina Hirji on the web
Results will open in a new window.

Check out other entries from the True Crime category
Results will open in a new window.