In the name of ‘honour’

State needs to establish its writ and strengthen laws to protect women through reforms and replacing jirgas

At a recent event organised by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women (KPCSW), experts called upon the government to amend laws and remove loopholes that are causing an increase in honour-related violence against women. Experts identified the weak legal framework — specifically the laws from 2004 and 2016 that amended the PPC and CrPC regarding honour crimes — as a major factor contributing to the increase in such incidents. They stressed the need for amendments to close legal loopholes and address investigative weaknesses that impede accountability. Although the police now classify these cases under Sections 302 and 311 of the PPC, the killings have persisted and even escalated in recent years. According to Human Rights Watch, nearly 1,000 women are killed in Pakistan each year in the name of ‘honour.’

We, as a state, have failed to rein in the parallel justice system of jirgas. And it is the jirgas that often pass such brutal sentences for women who are deemed to have brought ‘dishonour’ on the family or the community. The state needs to establish its writ and strengthen laws to protect women. It is crucial to implement thorough reforms to replace jirgas — declared illegal by the apex court — with state-sanctioned legal forums that adhere to the principles of justice, human rights and gender equality as outlined in the Constitution. These crimes persist because, despite criminalising ‘honour killings’, the state has not removed the notion of ‘honour’ from a woman’s autonomy over her own choices. As Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa has highlighted, referring to these murders as ‘honour killings’ inadvertently condones this horrific mindset. Unless corrective measures are taken to address these misconceptions, the practice will continue to claim the lives of women.