Just a father upholding the ‘family honour’

A man killed his 17-year-old daughter in the name of ‘honour’ in front of police officials while she was in the hospital.

Qaimwala resident Ghulam Allah Buksh, who is a school teacher killed his 17-year-old daughter Batool because she wanted to marry the man of her choice. Batool had had several arguments with her father once he discovered that she wanted to marry a man named Tassadaq.

A servant in the house, Suleman, said that she had begun to fear for her safety and told several of her friends that she thought her father would kill her. “She left the house within days of the news being discovered,” Suleman said, adding that Batool had been caught talking to Tassadaq on the phone and was severely beaten by her father. “She called a few of her friends and they helped her escape the house, she then sought refuge at a local Darul Aman,” Salman said, adding that he sometimes visited her and took her some of her old things.

Batool stayed at the Darul Aman for three months but her father often came to see her to plead with her to reconsider and return home.

“I even placed my turban at her feet and begged her not to defile the family honour, she kicked it aside and said that I should leave her and Tassadaq alone,” Buksh said, adding that Batool had threatened to inform the police about her father’s threats.

“There were no threats, I told her to come home and stop her disobedience, she retorted by saying that she would have me arrested if anything happened to the boy she was planning to marry,” he said.

Buksh only met Batool under the supervision of guards at the Darul Aman and Batool had informed the police of the situation. “She had severe asthma and used to get an attack nearly every four to five months,” Suleman said. On Monday, Batool got an asthma attack and had to go to the local DHQ hospital. Police officials accompanied her to the hospital for her safety but Buksh followed behind in a car. “I followed her, when I heard about the attack in the morning. I came to take her to the hospital but she refused to go with me and the policemen wouldn’t allow me near her,” Buksh said.

When Batool was admitted in the hospital, Buksh waited for a moment when the policemen had diverted their attention and the crowd at the hospital deterred them. He then took a knife and stabbed his daughter in the stomach, while she was already sedated. Police officials arrested Buksh on the spot. “He had no regrets at all, he said he was planning to kill her the moment he found out,” District police officer (DPO) Kashif Shafaq Kanju said, adding that even though the police was present in the hospital, the man had waited for the moment when they turned their backs for mere seconds.

“I would do it again. There was nothing else to do as she had destroyed the family honour, the only way to get it back was to kill her and she was shameless,” Buksh said, while in police custody. Buksh said that he was a ‘progressive’ father as he had allowed his daughter to study till her metric but said he was shocked at the atmosphere that surrounded her in school and later at the Darul Aman. “Young girls have cell phones and are calling and associating with boys without any check, someone needs to stop all this as it is ruining our society,” he said.

DPO Kanju said that no relaxation would be allowed in Buksh ‘s case, adding that he would face the full force of the law.

Published in the Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2010.