Killing for ‘honour’

Between 2004 to 2016, 4,737 women were subjected to sexual violence; 15,122 women and men were killed for honour

According a police report, 108 women were killed for honour in Sindh over the past one year, from Jan 31, 2019 to Jan 30, 2020. The report is full of statistics about sexual and non-sexual violence against women, girls and boys, but it does not mention even a single case where the culprit has been convicted. It only says cases are being pursued in courts or some of them have been thrown out for want of evidence. Even admitting the need to engage in the debate ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ vs ‘Justice hurried is justice buried,’ the slow process of dispensation of justice is in no way acting as a deterrent in crimes against women. In recent years, it was only in the rape and murder case of six-year-old Zainab Ansari that the law acted swiftly. The perpetrator was executed in less than a year between the crime and meting out the punishment that it deserved.

A Reuters Thompson survey conducted in 2018 found Pakistan the sixth-most unsafe country for women in the world. Sexual violence, trafficking and discrimination top the list of violence against women in Pakistan. Over the years, conditions for women have only been deteriorating in the country. According to statistics compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in the 12-year period (2004-16), 4,737 women were subjected to sexual violence; 15,122 women and men were killed for honour; 1,535 women were burnt; 1,843 women were subjected to severe domestic violence; 35, 935 women committed suicide; and 5,508 women were kidnapped.

Between Jan 31, 2019 and Jan 30, 2020, 132 women were murdered in Sindh for various reasons. In six cases, the police have been unable to find any evidence. In the same period, 1,158 cases of kidnapping of girls were registered with the police. Of these, 249 cases were closed after it was found the girls had married of their own free will. Around 95 cases of women’s rape were recorded. Forty are being investigated.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2020.

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