No honour in killing

Sindh alone accounts for 602 of the 933 cases of honour killings reported in the country in the last two years.

Farzana Parveen’s brutal killing instantly comes to mind after one looks at the statistics on ‘honour’ killings that were presented in the National Assembly recently. Her death struck at the collective conscience of society — albeit for a short time. When Farzana, a 25-year-old pregnant woman, was stoned to death by her brother and father near the Lahore High Court last year for marrying of her own accord, there was national and international outcry. The prime minister himself took notice. But nothing concrete seems to have come of this as according to statistics submitted by the law ministry in parliament, the number of such killings only seems to be increasing. There were 456 cases of such killings in 2013, which increased to 477 in 2014.

Sindh alone accounts for 602 of the 933 cases reported in the country in the last two years. It is time the Sindh government shook off its slumber and actively looked into measures to reduce the prevalence of such crimes. The statistics, although shocking enough, may well be poor estimates. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its 2013 report put the number of women killed for ‘honour’ for that year alone at 869. These incidents are seen as mere numbers released by human rights organisations annually, but beyond the numbers that we seem largely desensitised to, are incidents just as brutal as that of Farzana’s death. The fact that these murders happen with the regularity that they do reflects our collective failure and tolerance of customs that are dependent on acceptance of brutality. To curb these incidents, such murders must be seen as crimes against the state as opposed to crimes against individuals. And at least in the case of ‘honour’ killings, pardons by family members should not be accepted and murderers forgiven. It is also crucial to actively rethink language and work to separate the word ‘honour’ from these killings. The state must start valuing the lives of its citizens more than just allowing them to be taken away for listening to music, dancing or for just falling in love.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th,  2015.

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