Heinous crime: ‘Maria could become another statistic’

LAHORE: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Syed Ali Zafar condemned on Wednesday the wanton killing of hundreds of women with impunity nationwide.

Barrister Zafar said violence against women and children had to be eradicated at all cost. He said the only way to go around this was to ensure that justice was meted out to those behind such heinous crimes and no such individual got away scot-free. Barrister bemoaned as unfortunate scores of cases where the legal system had failed women and children.

The SCBA president said that he had reason to believe that 19-year-old Murree-resident Maria, who was burned alive for turning down a marriage proposal, would just become another statistic. Barrister Zafar said a committee had been constituted to probe the episode to ensure that no one was able to evade justice and abuse due process. He said the body was composed of former SCBA presidents Asma Jahangir, Kamran Murtaza and SCBA executive member Tehmina Mohibullah. Barrister Zafar said the committee had been tasked with ensuring that a transparent investigation was conducted, those responsible were meted out justice and a report was submitted to the association.

He expressed disappointment over the lack of a response from pertinent ministries in connection with the matter. He said the SCBA would pursue the episode as a rights case premised on the report put together by the committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2016.