Two men open fire on their wives and alleged paramours in separate incidents. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
In the latest incidents, two men and a woman were shot dead in the name of honour in different parts of Balochistan during the last 24 hours, police said on Monday.
The first incident took place in the Rabi canal area of Nasirabad district where a man opened fire on his wife and her alleged lover, Sabir Hussain Mughari, killing him on the spot.
Women still victims of honour killings despite new law
However, his wife, Huran Mughari, was critically injured in the firing. Police evacuated the casualties to the District Headquarters Hospital.
In the second incident, a man, identified as Lakhmir, allegedly shot dead his wife and her alleged paramour, Muhammad Arif, in the Goth Wafa Muhamad area of Nasirabad’s Manjushori tehsil.
Senior police officer Ghulam Ali Kandrani confirmed that both the incidents were honour crimes. “In both the cases, the alleged killers managed to escape,” he said, adding that they were investigating.
Replacing sexism with responsibility
Parliament passed a landmark bill in October 2016 which guarantees mandatory prison sentences of 25 years and strips families of the right to legally pardon the perpetrators of so-called “honour killings”.
However, the stringent law has made little difference in curbing honour-related crimes in the country.
A recent report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) reveals shocking statistics on honour killing in the country. It estimated that some 2,300 women have been killed in the name of ‘honour’in the last three years alone.
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