Honour killings in Pakistan are known locally as ''karo-kari'' ( ur, ).
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
currently have the top number of documented and estimated
honour killings
An honor killing (American English), honour killing (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect wha ...
per capita of any country in the world; about 1/5 of the world's honour killings are committed in Pakistan (1,000 out of the 5,000 per year total). An honour killing is the
homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief the victim has brought
dishonour upon the family or community.
The death of the victim is viewed as a way to restore the reputation and honour of the family.
It is likely that honour killing has been a practice in Pakistan for thousands of years,
and, despite recent legal reforms, it remains a common practice in Pakistan today. Both international and Pakistani activists and activist groups are pushing for an end to the practice, although some say that change will not truly happen unless the general public chooses to condemn the practice.
Background
Honour killing is an act of murder, in which a person is murdered for his or her actual or perceived immoral behavior. Such "immoral behavior" may take the form of alleged marital infidelity, refusal to submit to an arranged marriage, demanding a divorce, perceived flirtatious behaviour and being raped.
Suspicion and accusations alone are many times enough to defile a family's honour and therefore enough to warrant the killing of the woman.
In
patriarchal cultures, women's lives are structured through a strict maintenance of an honour code. In order to preserve woman's chastity, women must abide by socially restrictive cultural practices pertaining to women's status and family
izzat, or honour, such as the practice of ''
purdah
Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...
'', the segregation of sexes.
Honour killings are frequently more complex than the stated excuses of the perpetrators. More often than not, the murder relates to inheritance problems, feud-settling, or to get rid of the wife, for instance in order to remarry. Human rights agencies in Pakistan have repeatedly emphasized that victims were often women wanting to marry of their own will. In such cases, the victims held properties that the male members of their families did not wish to lose if the woman chose to marry outside the family.
A 1999 Amnesty International report drew specific attention to "the failure of the authorities to prevent these killings by investigating and punishing the perpetrators."
According to
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
advocates, the concepts of women as property and honour are so deeply entrenched in the social, political and economic fabric of Pakistan that the government, for the most part, ignores the daily occurrences of women being killed and maimed by their families. The fact that much of Pakistan's
Tribal Areas are semi-autonomous and governed by often fundamentalist leaders makes federal enforcement difficult when attempted.
Terminology related to honour killing
Both Appiah and Jafri explain the historical significance of ''karo-kari'' ( ur, ) within Pakistan. Karo can be directly translated as "black
r 'blackened'man" and kari as "black
r 'blackenedwoman"
and refers to sexual intercourse outside the bonds of marriage.
The term ''karo-kari'' is commonly used as a synonym to honour killing,
especially in the
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
region of Pakistan.
Originally, karo and kari were metaphoric terms for adulterer and adulteress, but it has come to be used with regards to multiple forms of perceived immoral behavior. Once a woman is labeled as a kari, family members consider themselves to be authorized to kill her and the co-accused karo in order to restore family honour. In the majority of cases, the victim of the attacks is female with her attackers being male members of her family or community.
Cultural pressures for honour killing in Pakistan
Pakistan is a collective, patriarchal society, and therefore social boundaries and community regard are based on honour; in this situation, honour is based on the behaviour of kin or members of a certain group.
A Pakistani folk saying describes well the cultural importance of honour: "'
''Daulat khonay pur kuch naheen khota, sihat khonay pur kuch kho jaata hai, ghairat khonay pur sub kuch kho jaata hai (When wealth is lost nothing is lost; when health is lost something is lost; when honour is lost everything is lost)."
In Pakistan, honour is focused more on the perception of the community versus actual evidence.
Honour is important for both women and men to uphold; women protect honour by modesty and men by masculinity.
The cultural perspective behind honour is that if a woman does something that the community perceives as immodest then the men in her family must uphold their masculinity and regain the family honour by murdering the woman.
If this action isn't completed the shame and dishonour can extend beyond the immediate family to the entire lineage, or even to the entire community.
There are multiple other cultural characteristics that contribute to honour including a strong disdain for death.
Due to this, the perpetrator of an honour killing is highly regarded in the community because of their courage and because what they had to endure through with murdering another was worse than death itself.
Prevalence
As in other countries, the exact number of honour killings is not known. The
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ) (HRCP) is an independent, democratic non-profit organisation. Founded in 1987, it is one of the oldest human rights organisations in the country.
HRCP is committed to monitoring, protecting a ...
lists 460 cases of reported honour killings in 2017, with 194 males and 376 females as victims.
Of these murderings, 253 were sparked by disapproval of illicit relations and 73 by disapproval of marriage choice.
Additionally, out of the known suspect relationship with victims, over 93% were family relationships.
Although these are most likely only a sample of the actual honour killings that were completed during 2017, it still gives a glimpse into characteristics of honour killings in Pakistan. Sources disagree as to the exact number by year, but according to
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
, NGOs/INGOs in the area estimate that around 1,000 honour killings are carried out each year in Pakistan.
In 2015 nearly 1,100 women were murdered in honour killings. In 2011, human rights groups reported 720 honour killings in Pakistan (605 women and 115 men), while Pakistan's Human Rights Commission reported that in 2010 there were 791 honour killings in the country, and Amnesty International cited 960 incidents of women who were slain in honour killings that year.
Over 4,000 honour killing cases were reported in Pakistan between 1998 and 2004. Of the victims, around 2,700 were women vs about 1,300 men; 3,451 cases came before the courts. During this time, the highest rates were in
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
, followed by the
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
province. A significant number of cases have also been reported in
North-West Frontier Province
The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followi ...
(NWFP) and in
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
.
Nilofar Bakhtiar
Nilofar Bakhtiar ( ur, نیلوفر بختیار ) (born 9 September 1957) is a public official in Pakistan. She was Federal Minister for Tourism in Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's cabinet until a scandal forced her to resign. She remains a sena ...
, advisor to
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Shaukat Aziz, stated that in 2003, as many as 1,261 women were murdered in honour killings.
Complications in data
Data and its absence are difficult to interpret. One reason is the reluctance to report honour killings to official bodies. Another reason is that honour killings are occurring in cultural and social contexts which do not recognize the ''criminality'' of honour killings.
The very nature of honour killings reflects deeply entrenched notions of "honour" and "morality", in which the perpetrator is upholding justice and order when the victim commits deplorable social acts. The perpetrator becomes the champion of justice while the victim becomes the perpetrator and is accused of the criminal act. Human rights advocates are in wide agreement that the reported cases do not reflect the full extent of the issue, as honour killings have a high level of support in Pakistan's rural society, and thus often go unreported.
[Yasmeen Hassan, "The Haven Becomes Hell: A Study of Domestic Violence in Pakistan," ''The Fate of Pakistani Women'', 1995 August, 72 p. (Special Bulletin), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg] Frequently, women & men murdered in honour killings are recorded as having committed suicide or died in accidents.
Specific occurrences
In one of the most publicized honour killing cases committed in Pakistan,
Samia Sarwar
Samia Sarwar (1970 – 6 April 1999) was a Pakistani woman, who was shot dead in her lawyers' office in Lahore in an "honour killing."
Samia Sarwar was a married woman with two children, belonging to an affluent family of Peshawar. She claimed to ...
was murdered by her family in the
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
office of well-known human rights activists
Asma Jahangir
Asma Jilani Jahangir ( ur, , ''ʿĀṣimah Jahāṉgīr''; 27 January 1952 – 11 February 2018) was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Jahangir was known ...
and
Hina Jilani in April 1999. As Sarwar sought assistance for a divorce from her first cousin, her family arranged her murder after the shame felt in her attempt to marry a man of her choice. The police did not make any arrests or pursue prosecution as Sarwar's family is highly well known in elite, political circles. The 2000 award-winning BBC documentary, "License to Kill," covers Samia's murdering in Pakistan.
Amnesty International reported that on 27 April 2009, Ayman Udas, a
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
singer from the
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
area, was shot to death apparently by her two brothers who "viewed her divorce, remarriage and artistic career as damaging to family honour." No one was prosecuted.
A widely reported case was that of Tasleem Khatoon Solangi, 17, of Hajna Shah village in
Khairpur district
Khairpur District ( sd, خيرپور ضلعو, ur, ) is a district in the Pakistani province of Sindh in Sukkur Division. At the 2017 census, it was the fifth most populated district in the province after four districts of Karachi city, with ...
, which was widely reported after her father, 57-year-old Gul Sher Solangi, publicized the case. He alleged his eight months' pregnant daughter was tortured and murdered on March 7, 2008, by members of her village claiming that she had brought dishonour to the tribe. Solangi's father claimed that it was orchestrated by her father-in-law, who accused her of carrying a child conceived out of wedlock, potentially with the added motive of trying to take over the family farm.
The occurred in Balochistan. Five women were murdered by tribesmen of the
Umrani Tribe of
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
.
The five victims – three teens, and two middle-aged women – were kidnapped, beaten, shot, and then buried alive because they refused the tribal leader's marriage arrangements and wanted to marry men of their own choosing.
Local politicians may have been involved in the murders.
Syed Iqbal Haider
Iqbal Haider ( ur, اقبال حیدر; 14 January 1945 – 11 November 2012) was a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the co-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan ("HRCP"). He was also a Senator, Federa ...
commented that the Pakistani government had been very slow to react.
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Israr Ullah Zehri
Israr Ullah Khan Zehri ( ur, مير اسراراللہ زہری; born December 15, 1965) is a Pakistani politician. He is currently a senator from Balochistan. He also serves as Federal Minister for Postal Services. He hails from Jhalawan, Baloch ...
defending the killings, stating, "these are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them.'
On 27 May 2014 a pregnant woman named
Farzana Iqbal (''née'' Parveen) was stoned to death by her family in front of a
Pakistani High Court for eloping and marrying the man she loved, Muhammad Iqbal. Police investigator Mujahid quoted the father as saying: "I killed my daughter as she had insulted all of our family by marrying a man without our consent, and I have no regret over it." Muhammad Iqbal stated that it had been a prolonged engagement, and Farzana's father had become enraged only after Iqbal refused a demand for more money than the originally agreed amount of the
bride price
Bride price, bride-dowry ( Mahr in Islam), bride-wealth, or bride token, is money, property, or other form of wealth paid by a groom or his family to the woman or the family of the woman he will be married to or is just about to marry. Bride dow ...
. Muhammad Iqbal strangled his first wife so that he would be free to marry Farzana, and police said he had been released after that murder when a "compromise" was reached with his first wife's family.
In 2015, a
documentary was released about Saba Qaiser, a woman from Punjab, Pakistan,
who married a man against her family's wishes
because his family was of "lowly status."
In response to her elopement, her father and uncle beat her, shot her in the head, put her body in a sack, and threw the sack into a river.
Amazingly, Saba survived the violent attack, escaped the sack, swam to shore, and was able to get help at a local gas station.
While still in recovery, Saba was pressured by community leaders to forgive her father and uncle.
During that time, the "forgiveness law" was still in place, allowing murderers of victims to be released if the family chose to forgive them.
With the help of a pro bono human rights lawyer, Saba fought the case in court,
but finally chose to exclaim forgiveness in court due to the pressure she was receiving.
Due to her forgiveness in court, Saba's attackers were released from jail.
Both her uncle and father were later imprisoned again in April 2016, and were set to be released March 2017, leaving Saba worrying for her life.
In July 2016, popular Pakistani social media celebrity
Qandeel Baloch
Fouzia Azeem ( ur, ; 1 March 1990 – 15 July 2016), known by her stage name Qandeel Baloch ( ur, ), was a Pakistani model, actress, social media celebrity and activist. She was the country's first social media celebrity. Azeem rose to promi ...
was strangled by her brother in an act of honour killing in
Multan
Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab.
Multan is one of the List ...
in the province of Punjab. She had reportedly raised controversy by posting controversial pictures of herself on social media, including one alongside a
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
cleric, and her brothers had asked her to stop. The state was named as complainant in Qandeel's murder case, making it impossible for her family to pardon her killers. Qandeel's brother Waseem was arrested on the charges of murder. He confessed to murdering his sister, saying "she
Qandeel Baloch
Fouzia Azeem ( ur, ; 1 March 1990 – 15 July 2016), known by her stage name Qandeel Baloch ( ur, ), was a Pakistani model, actress, social media celebrity and activist. She was the country's first social media celebrity. Azeem rose to promi ...
was bringing disrepute to our family's honour and I could not tolerate it any further. I killed her around 11:30 p.m. on Friday night when everyone else had gone to bed."
In July 2016, a British woman,
Samia Shahid, flew to visit her family in Pakistan under false pretenses; she was told she needed to come immediately because her father was dying. On July 20, 2016 (only six days after arriving in Pakistan),
[''Murdered for Love? Samia Shahid''. Sasha Achili. BBC TWO, 2018. Short film/documentary.] she was found dead - raped and strangled - in Punjab, Pakistan, at the home of Mohammed Shakeel, her former husband. Years earlier, Samia had been forced to marry her cousin, Mohammed Shakeel, in an arranged marriage. In 2014, Samia married Syed Mukhtar Kazam and started a new life with him in Dubai. Before flying to Pakistan in 2016, Samia expressed she was worried about the nature of the visit, about seeing her former husband, and about whether or not she would come home alive. In a BBC documentary about her death, ''Murdered for Love? Samia Shahid'', BBC shares that Shakeel murdered Samia after she refused to remarry him. Police reports say that Shakeel raped and murdered Samia after she refused to reveal the location of her passport. Additionally, the BBC documentary reports that Samia was able to briefly escape the attack by Shakeel and run into his hallway but then she was then confronted by her father who nodded his approval to Shakeel before Shakeel strangled Samia. Samia's family claimed she died by heart attack but the autopsy reports showed that she was raped and strangled. Her father was released from police custody due to lack of evidence and later died without being charged.
Her cousin and former husband, Shakeel, is still in police custody.
In January 2017 a Pakistani mother was
sentenced to death
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
for murdering her daughter by burning her alive, for ‘bringing shame to the family’ by marrying against her family's wishes.
In February 2018, a man and five accomplices opened fire on a couple in Karachi, Pakistan, killing the husband, Rozi Khan, and injuring the wife, Zainab.
Zainab put up a fight and was further attacked with sticks and a knife, but still survived.
The couple had entered into a marriage that most of their family was opposed to but that Zainab's mother and brother gave permission for.
The main assailant in the honour killing and attempted honour killing is Zainab's nephew.
The nephew was apprehended at a private hospital following the attack where he claimed his injuries from fighting Zainab were instead from being robbed.
The nephew's friend is also a suspect in the case.
Also, in February 2018, a 19-year-old woman was murdered in Karachi, Pakistan, by her brother for having an affair with one of her relatives.
Her father and two landlords have also been arrested in addition to her brother, and all have confessed their involvement.
Prior to her killing, a local jirga declared she was a "sinful woman."
In 2020 June a woman was allegedly stoned to death in Jamshoro district of Sindh province allegedly in tradition of Karo-Kari.
Other similar six instances were reported beginning of 2020 July from Sukkur, Jacobabad, Naushahro Feroze and Dad Leghari regions of Sindh. From 2019 January to June official figure of Karo-Kari murders was at 78 cases.
Pakistani law
An Amnesty International report noted "the failure of the authorities to prevent these killings by investigating and punishing the perpetrators."
Honour killings are supposed to be prosecuted as ordinary murder, but in practice, police and prosecutors often ignore it. The Pakistani government's failure to take effective measures to end the practice of honour killings is indicative of a weakening of
political institutions,
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
, and economic decline. In the wake of civil crisis, people turn to other alternative models, such as traditional tribal customs.
In 2016, Pakistan repealed the loophole which allowed the perpetrators of honour killings to avoid punishment by seeking forgiveness for the crime from another family member, and thus be legally pardoned.
In some rural parts of Pakistan, the male-dominated
jirga
A jirga ( ps, جرګه, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtuns, Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of oth ...
, or tribal council, decides affairs and its executive decisions take primacy over state legislation. A
jirga
A jirga ( ps, جرګه, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtuns, Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of oth ...
arbitrates based on tribal consensus and tribal values among clients.
Tribal notions of justice often include violence on client's behalf.
For example, in December 2017, a local jirga in Karachi, Pakistan, condemned Ghani Reham and Bakhtaja to death by electrocution.
The teenage couple, 18-years-old and 15-years-old, had eloped.
The killing was sanctioned by the jirga and then carried out by the couple's fathers and uncles.
Roots in British Colonial Law
Leniency against honor killings traces it roots in Pakistani penal code to the
British Colonial law. Pakistan's legal code is based on the 1860 code imported by Britain, which granted a lenient sentence to a man who murdered his wife for “grave and sudden provocation."
Pakistan's
Federal Shariat Court
The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) is a constitutional court of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which has the power to examine and determine whether the laws of the country comply with Sharia law. The court was established in 1980 during the gove ...
reformed this law in 1990 to bring it closer to the
Shari'a
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
, declaring that “according to the teachings of Islam, provocation, no matter how grave and sudden it is, does not lessen the intensity of crime of murder.” Lenient sentences, however, are still handed down by certain judges, who continue to justify it by citing the British law's “grave and sudden provocation."
Legal reforms
The law on honor killings has been reformed several times throughout the years. Notable legislation reforms to protect women in Pakistan from violence include The Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act of 2006,
[“Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act, 2006. December 1, 2006. Retrieved from http://www.af.org.pk/Important%20Courts%27%20judgement/Important%20legislation/Protec tion%20of%20Women%20_Criminal%20Laws%20Amendment_%20Act,%202006.pdf] Criminal Law (Third Amendment) Act of 2011,
[“Act No. XXVI of 2011.” State Secretariat. ''The Gazette of Pakistan''. 2011-12-28. Retrieved from http://www.na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1475762285_283.pdf] The Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act of 2016, and The Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or pretext of Honour) Act of 2016.
[“A Bill.” National Assembly of Pakistan. n.d. Retrieved from http://www.na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1475762285_283.pdf]
On December 8, 2004, under international and domestic pressure, Pakistan enacted a law that increased punishment for honour killings to prison term of seven years, or by the death penalty in the most extreme cases.
Women and
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
organizations were, however, skeptical of the law's impact, as it stopped short of outlawing the practice of allowing murderers to buy their freedom by paying compensation to the victim's relatives, which was problematic because most honour killings are committed by close relatives.
In March 2005, the Pakistani parliament rejected a bill which sought to strengthen the law against the practice of honour killing declaring it to be un-Islamic. The bill was eventually passed in 2006 as the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act of 2006,
also known as
The Women's Protection Bill. However, doubts of its effectiveness remained. The bill created a punishment of imprisonment for life and a fine if a woman is abducted or induced to marry a person without her personal consent and will.
The bill also expanded the definition of rape to include sexual intercourse without a woman's consent, against her will, a punishment for the false accusation of fornication, and expanding zina to be prosecutable only if accused by four male eye-witnesses and registered in court(discretionary punishment for zina removed).
Even with these added protections against crimes that commonly lead to honour killing, honour killing itself was not addressed in this bill. Doubts of the effectiveness of this bill have remained.
The Criminal Law (Third Amendment) Act of 2011 created a punishment for giving or compelling a woman to marry for any reason including the purpose of preventing criminal liability (for example, in the case of rape) or settling a civil dispute.
The Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act of 2016 was passed to amend Pakistani law to further protect women.
[“THE PUNJAB PROTECTION OF WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE ACT 2016.” Punjab Laws, March 2, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.lawsofpakistan.com/punjab-women-protection-bill-2016-free-pdf-download] The goal of this act is "to establish an effective system of protection, relief and rehabilitation of women against violence."
Through this act, the Provincial Assembly of Punjab commits to allow a person to receive protection if in danger or treated unfairly, create a safe-house and rescue and recovery system, protect individuals through protection orders, order property and monetary recompense to the victim, and established the power to enter homes to respond to a potential threat and safely remove the victim to a safe location, if requested by the victim.
In addition, this act requires that a District Women Protection Committee be created to advocate for victims and ensure these laws are being followed.
Although The Punjab Protection of Women against Violence act in 2016 is a step forward in providing services and protection for women, Siddiqi believes that even further action needs to be taken to protect women.
According to Siddiqi, even though this act closes some of the legal loopholes surrounding honour killing and domestic violence, this act will not work unless the public is committed to condemning and ending the violence.
The Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or pretext of Honour) Act of 2016 repealed the loophole which allowed the perpetrators of honour killings to avoid punishment by seeking forgiveness for the crime from another family member, and thus be legally pardoned and receive light punishment.
This bill focuses primarily on honour killing and its legal punishment.
In addition to closing the loophole mentioned above, the act established a punishment of 14 years imprisonment to life in prison for crimes committed "on the pretext of honour."
Even with the major improvements by this act, honour killing has continued in Pakistan.
International activism
Human rights are
natural rights, fundamentally ensured to every human, regardless of nationality, race, gender, or ethnic group. Through the ongoing work of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, the universality of
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
has been clearly established and recognized in
international law
International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
.
In March 1996, Pakistan ratified the
CEDAW, or the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
By ratifying
CEDAW, Pakistan promises to abolish discriminatory laws and establish
tribunals
A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title.
For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a si ...
and public institutions to effectively protect women.
CEDAW, as a human rights treaty, notably targets culture and tradition as contributing factors to gender-based discrimination. In 1993, the
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
adopted the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (abbreviated as DEVAW) was adopted without a vote by the United Nations General Assembly in the 48/104 resolution of 20 December 1993. Contained within it is the recognition of "the ur ...
, entreating states not to invoke custom, tradition, or religious consideration to avoid their obligation to eliminate violence against women.
According to
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
, if a government is negligent in prosecuting perpetrators, it is liable and complicit in those abuses.
The role of the modern nation-state is to ensure full protection of
universal human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
. The prevalence of honour killings in Pakistan underscores the Pakistani government's systematic failure in ensuring fundamental human rights to women.
However, international organizations and
feminists
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male poi ...
globally have been criticized for upholding a Western-centric agenda when engaging in honour-killing activism. Long-standing discourses on the universality of
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
versus
cultural relativism indicate tensions in international activism for women's rights. But cultural relativism can be partially resolved when local activists make clear that cultural customs are harmful to women and in violation of
international human rights
International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...
standard. Cultural and religious customs are constantly evolving and it is necessary to partner with regional activists in Pakistan to be at the forefront for demanding change.
International activist groups
IKWRO helps provide local resources for women and girls who are fleeing from dangerous situations, including honour killing.
The group provides advocacy, training, and counseling to these women and girls and strives to work with the police and others to improve their safety.
Women Living Under Muslim Laws serves as a public source for information by helping provide public appeals and statements on human rights issues towards women, including honour killing.
The organization acknowledges that Islam is not practiced the same everywhere, and that many times politics and cultures use religion as an excuse to abuse women.
Humanity Healing International and Hope Development Organization are working together to create a trained network of Pakistani women to advocate against honour killing.
The groups have a plan to train 500 women in 10 different targeted areas on how to become advocates, including holding press conferences and public rallies.
The goal is to specifically target policy makers and members of the Pakistan National Assembly Standing Committee in order to effectuate change.
Recent international documentaries have also helped raise international awareness about honour killing in Pakistan. For example, BBC's ''Murdered for Love? Samia Shahid'' tells the story of Samia Shahid, a British woman who was lured back to Pakistan and then raped and murdered by her former husband and her father.
Proposed international activism
Collective shaming, also known as international shaming and state shaming, is a strategy used by international entities (such as INGOs or other countries) to pressure governments to act in a certain way. Collective shaming has been a tool used by the international community to facilitate change, including legal change, in Pakistan in regard to honour killing in the past.
Appiah uses the example of
Safia Bibi to show the effective collective shaming can have.
Safia Bibi was a blind maid who, at the age of thirteen, was raped by her employer's son.
The rape was brought to public attention when she became pregnant.
The law at the time said that she needed to visually identify the perpetrator in order to convict him.
Safia was unable to do this because of her blindness and therefore was punished for sexual misconduct and subject to 30 lashes (a relatively lenient punishment).
The case attracted international attention and collective international shaming.
Due to the pressure from the international community, the court decision was reversed.
Appiah suggests that the practice of collective shaming be more strongly applied to change not only laws, but also to change the local cultural perspective of honour killing.
Honour is obviously a major characteristic of Pakistani culture, and Appiah suggests that outsiders and insiders work together to make the community feel as if honour killing is bringing shame upon them and is therefore dishonourable (removes their honour).
If enough people outside and inside the country view honour killing as dishonourable, then the cultural practice will change, and families will need to stop performing honour killings to remain honourable.
Changing perspectives will take time, but will eradicate the practice almost permanently.
Pakistani activism
Human rights activists in Pakistan have been on the forefront of change and reform to end the practice of honour killings. Emphasizing universal human rights, democracy, and global feminism, Pakistani activists seek legal reform to criminalise the practice and protect victims from abuse.
Asma Jehangir
Asma Jilani Jahangir ( ur, , ''ʿĀṣimah Jahāṉgīr''; 27 January 1952 – 11 February 2018) was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Jahangir was known ...
, chairperson of
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ) (HRCP) is an independent, democratic non-profit organisation. Founded in 1987, it is one of the oldest human rights organisations in the country.
HRCP is committed to monitoring, protecting a ...
, and
Hina Jilani are Pakistani lawyers reinvigorating civil society to become critical of the Pakistani state's failure to ensure fair rights and benefits to its female citizenry. Jehangir and Jilani founded Pakistan's first legal aid center in 1986 and a women's shelter called Dastak in 1991 for women fleeing from violence.
Other notable Pakistani activists working on reporting and deterring honour killings include
Aitzaz Ahsan
Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan ( ur, ; born 27 September 1945) is a Pakistani politician and lawyer. He served two times as the Leader of the House in the Senate of Pakistan from 1994 to 1997 and again from 2012 to 2015. He also served as the Leader o ...
,
Anis Amir Ali,
Ayaz Latif Palijo,
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy ( ur, ; born 12 November 1978) is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and activist known for her work in films that highlight the inequality with women. She is the recipient of two Academy Awards, seven Emmy Awa ...
and
Shahnaz Bukhari
Shahnaz Bukhari (or Bokhari) is a Pakistani clinical psychologist and women's rights activist. She is founder and director of the non-governmental organization, Progressive Women's Association (PWA), which documents and opposes violence against w ...
.
In June 2016, the Council of Islamic Ideology, a body of Muslim clerics which advises the government on compliance of laws with the Shariah, has "decreed that honour killings are un-Islamic".
The Pakistani Women's Human Rights Organization, a local NGO, helps provide a voice for victims by sharing their stories, working with international human rights organizations to fight international human rights violations, and changing laws to improve the situation for women with Pakistan.
In 2006, the
National Police Bureau
National Police Bureau ( ur, ) is an institution under Ministry of Interior, Pakistan. The bureau acts as think tank for government in help shape policies for law enforcement agencies and recommending police reforms for the ministry.
The Bureau w ...
established the Gender Crime Cell in order to gather data about crimes committed against women in Pakistan, an area that was previously missing significant portions of data.
The goal was to use this data to make more appropriate policy decisions to protect women and punish offenders.
One part of this solution included the Gender Responsive Policing Project, which began in 2009.
This project focused on improving police procedures in response to gender-based crimes, as well as to create more opportunities for women within the police department.
Another one of the Gender Crime Cell's projects has been the Women Police Network (WPN), with the goal of connecting police organizations across the country in order to improve fact and practice sharing with the goal of improving women's situations.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy ( ur, ; born 12 November 1978) is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and activist known for her work in films that highlight the inequality with women. She is the recipient of two Academy Awards, seven Emmy Awa ...
, a Pakistani journalist, created the documentary, ''
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness'', as her way to inform the world about honour killings in Pakistan and to motivate people to join the fight against the practice. Her documentary won an Academy Award in 2016 for Best Documentary Short Subject. As of April 2018, this documentary has had over 384K views on YouTube and is bringing the issue of honour killing to an international audience.
[HBODocs (2016-02-21), ''A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (HBO Documentary Films)'', retrieved 2018-04-02]
See also
Honour killings of people of Pakistani heritage outside of Pakistan
*
Shafilea Ahmed (United Kingdom)
*
Sandeela Kanwal (United States)
*
Gazala Khan (Denmark)
*
Rukhsana Naz (United Kingdom)
*
Aqsa Parvez
Aqsa "Axa" Parvez ( ur, ; April 22, 1991 – December 10, 2007) was the victim of a murder in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. During the murder trial, Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno acknowledged the slaying as an honour killing, stating, tha ...
(Canada)
*
Hina Saleem
Hina Saleem (19 December 1985 – 11 August 2006) was a Pakistani woman resident in Italy who was killed in an honour killing, in Sarezzo, Zanano di Sarezzo, province of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. - Original Italian version:Hina, sgozzata 10 anni ...
(Italy)
*
Saman Abbas (Italy)
*
Sadia Sheikh (Belgium)
**''
A Wedding'' (2016 film, co-produced by three European countries and Pakistan, about an honour killing of a Belgian woman of Pakistani heritage, based on the Sadia Sheikh case)
Related:
*
Acid throwing
An acid attack, also called acid throwing, vitriol attack, or vitriolage, is a form of violent assault involving the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim, to ...
*
Blue Veins (Pakistan)
Blue Veins is based in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is a women's health advocacy group that has dedicated itself to providing medical information to poor and rural women in Pakistan. Blue Veins is involved in helping women secure the ...
*
Domestic violence in Pakistan
*
Ghairat
*
Feudalism in Pakistan Feudalism in contemporary Pakistan ( ur, ''zamīndāri nizam'') usually refers to the power and influence of large landowning families, particularly through very large estates and in more remote areas.Nicholas D. Kristof "Feudalism in Pakistan" '' ...
*
Hudood Ordinance
The Hudood Ordinances (Urdu ; also Romanized Hadood, Hadud, Hudud; singular form is ''Hadh'' or ''hadd'') are laws in Pakistan that were enacted in 1979 as part of then military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's "Islamisation" process. It replaced parts of the ...
*
Human rights in Pakistan
The situation of Human Rights in Pakistan ( ur, ) is complex as a result of the country's diversity, large population, its status as a developing country and a sovereign Islamic democracy with a mixture of both Islamic and secular law. The Const ...
*
Islamic sexual jurisprudence
Views and laws about sexuality in Islam are largely predicated on the Quran, the sayings of Muhammad (''hadith'') and the rulings of religious leaders (''fatwa'') confining sexual activity to marital relationships between men and women. Islamic ...
*
Forced conversion of minority girls in Pakistan
In Pakistan, on average around over a 1000 underage girls belonging to the minority Hindu, Christian and Sikh communities are kidnapped and forcefully converted to Islam every year and forcibly married and subjected to rape. According to human r ...
*
Mera Jism Meri Marzi
( ur, ; ) is a slogan used by Feminism in Pakistan, feminists in Pakistan to demand Bodily integrity, bodily autonomy and protest Violence against women, gender-based violence.
The slogan was popularized during the Aurat March in Pakistan, whic ...
*
Misogyny
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practice ...
*
Rape in Pakistan
Punishment for rape in Pakistan under the Pakistani laws is either death penalty or imprisonment of between ten and twenty-five years. For cases related to gang rape, the punishment is either death penalty or life imprisonment. DNA test and othe ...
*
Violence against women in Pakistan
Violence against women, particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence, is a major public health problem and a violation of women's human rights in Pakistan. Violence against women in Pakistan is part of an issue that faces the entire ...
*
Women in Islam
The experiences of Muslim women ( ''Muslimāt'', singular مسلمة ''Muslimah'') vary widely between and within different societies. At the same time, their adherence to Islam is a shared factor that affects their lives to a varying degree ...
*
Women related laws in Pakistan
The legislative assembly of Pakistan has enacted a number of measures designed to give women more power in the areas of family, inheritance, revenue, civil and criminal laws. These measures are an attempt to safeguard women's right to freedom of s ...
References
External links
Shame (A 2005 documentary about Honour Killings in Pakistan)* https://apnews.com/0ddcb44fe2b9416381e44ad35c07314b/i-had-inside-mind-honor-killer-pakistan
Representation of Honour Killing in the Newspapers of Pakistan: A Content Analysis ~ Dr. Rana Saba Sultan, Dr. Ambreen Fazal & Naseeb Butt; Kalachi Research Journal 2022
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karo-Kari
Human rights abuses in Pakistan