An act of dishonour

One concept that must die from society is that a man’s honour is dependent on his control over the women of his...

If there is one concept that must die from our society, it is that a man’s honour is dependent on the degree of his control over the women of his household. The incident in Pindi Machiyaan, Punjab, where a man murdered his own wife and three daughters for having the “arrogance” to decide who to marry is only the latest example of a disease that has been coursing through the veins of the nation for decades. There is almost no character in this story, save for those three innocent little girls whose lives were taken by the one who was ostensibly their protector, who is innocent in this sad saga. Shaukat Ali, the man who admits that he committed the murders, clearly has a deranged understanding of the word “honour”. And while no crime could justify her brutal murder, we are not comfortable with the fact that his wife was about to marry off her 12-year old daughter. No child of that age is capable of giving consent to such an arrangement and should never be forced into marriage so early in their lives.

Cruelty is not justified just because it is carried out in the name of fine-sounding platitudes like “honour” and “tradition”. If anything, it is worse because the implied social justification for the horror visited upon the victims only renders deeper and more quiet their screams of agony.  Shaukat Ali accused his wife of arrogance. We accuse him of arrogance and hypocrisy. His murder of his wife and children was a supreme act of egotism and his refusal to see his own action as worse is wherein his hypocrisy lies. Not only did he have the audacity to feel that he should control every aspect of his family’s life, but has taken actual pride in his action by taping a confession to the front door of his home. This man has shown no remorse and we pray that, if convicted, the court will show him no mercy. His concept of honour shames us a society and we must speak out against it.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2010.