‘Honour’ crimes: Loopholes in the law allow perpetrators to walk free

Prominent civil society members come together to discuss sensitising the society and create awareness.

KARACHI:

Those who commit crimes of honour are able to walk free because there are loopholes in the law and their implementation, said lawmakers and law enforcers on Thursday.

They shared these views at an advocacy session on ‘Honour Crimes in Pakistan and Access to Justice’ held by the Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme (Camp) at Pearl Continental hotel.

All the lawmakers and law enforcers at the seminar agreed that desensitisation of the society towards crimes, especially those committed in the name of ‘honour’, allow the perpetrators of such crimes to go scot-free. Sindh training department DIGP AD Khawaja said that women in our society are viewed as a commodity, property and the custodian of honour in a family. Whenever a woman failed to honour the prestige of the clan, she was sacrificed, he said.



The ranking of the province for such crimes was alarming and what is worse, he said, was that there were a few police officials in rural areas who supported  ‘honour killing’ since they are the product of such an insensitive society. “We need the people and the police to be sensitised about such issues,” he said.

He grimly stated that even the best-investigated case would not result in conviction because our legal system allowed room for the legal heirs to pardon the accused, condoning these murders. “It’s not an ordinary crime, thus it should be tried by special courts.”

On the legal aspects of honour killings, Khawaja claimed that cases are neither reported nor placed before the court in a rudimentary manner, which would inevitably result in acquittal. “This procedure discourages the policeman who does not take the next case seriously,” he explained. Khawaja suggested that help centres should provide legal and muscular assistance to the victims at the district level to help overcoming the problem. “Educate girls, so that they are more vocal otherwise there will be more victims,” he said.



MPA Mehtab Akbar Rashidi agreed that women are largely considered as property and that people were trading them for land disputes and to settle other issues. “Our’s is a degenerated society where disputes are settled through women.”

Rashidi could never understand the phenomenon of killing someone in the name of ‘honour’, she admitted, adding that nothing is more shameful if someone kills a woman to protect his honour, reflecting how much ‘weak’ their honour is. Lawmakers have declared ‘honour killing’ as a murder through laws but even then legal heirs take ‘Qisas’ and the killer goes free. She emphasised on reforming and sensitising societies at the grassroot level.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Dr Seema Zia was of the view that laws were comprehensive about such crimes but implementation was an issue. Such issues should be taken to the parliament and lawmakers should come up with an action plan, she said.

The elimination of discriminatory customary practices that deny women their fundamental human rights has been part of Camp’s project ‘Rule of Programming in Pakistan’ since 2010. The campaign aims to implement an evidence-based advocacy and sensitisation campaign on ‘Honour Crimes’ in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2013.