KARACHI:
Honour killing is a primitive custom still practised in some rural parts of Pakistan. Hundreds of women are killed every year in the country in the name of honour. According to a report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 470 women were killed for so-called honour in 2025 alone. Sindh, in particular, has become a slaughterhouse for women. Karo-Kari, a local term, is used here for femicide. Northern parts of the province record the highest number of such cases. These parts include Ghotki, Kashmore, Sukkur, Khairpur, Shikarpur and Jacobabad.
A recent case that drew public attention was the murder of 19-year-old Khalida Chandio from district Khairpur. Khalida’s crime was that she entered into a free-will marriage with a man outside her caste. However, she was abandoned by her husband just about a week after marriage due to family pressure, and she was left vulnerable. A tribal chieftain then called a jirga to decide her fate. The jirga decided that she should be killed to restore family honour. She was later gunned down in the presence of more than 50 people.
Patriarchy is deeply rooted in rural areas of Pakistan. Women who choose spouse on their own, pursue education or even demand their share in property are thought to have sullied the family’s honour and thus punished harshly, even killed in some cases. MNA Nafisa Shah, in her book Honor Unmasked, writes about an incident where a man who went to pray at a woman’s grave was killed by her husband, assuming he must have been involved with her in the past.
Honour killing is not only practised by uneducated individuals but by educated and even foreign-qualified people. A tribal chief, in an interview with journalist Declan Walsh, said, “The job was done and honour was restored” after the killing of a newly-wed couple.
There are laws such as Federal Domestic Violence (Protection and Prevention) Act 2020, Punjab Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act 2013, etc, but implementation remains weak, to put it mildly. Strict enforcement of laws, swift trials in honour killing cases and strong social and media pressure against perpetrators can help reduce such incidents and save innocent lives.
Manzar Ali
Mirpur Mathelo
