For shame: Stepsisters, mother killed over ‘honour’
Township police said Asif and Shahzad murdered their 50-year-old mother and two stepsisters aged 16 and 18, because “they were prostitutes and their mother was supporting them”. The men entered a tent put up in Plot 2B1, Block 3, Township, where the women lived, opposite Milli Noorani Mosque late at night and slit their throats. The brothers surrendered to the police at around 9am and handed over the murder weapon.
Asif and Shahzad were the woman’s sons from her deceased husband and the girls were from her current husband.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Asif said, “My stepsisters were prostitutes and we were not happy about it. We killed them because we could not deal with their trashy characters.” He said they regretted nothing because they had killed for “honour”.
Shahzad said that he and Asif had warned them to stop their “immoral activities” several times. “We caught them at it many times. That hurt us to no end.” He said they had killed their mother because she turned a blind eye to the goings-on.
Saddar Township SP Saddar Ijaz Shafi Dogar said it appeared to be murder for ‘honour’ but they will investigate it from all angles. “We have formed an investigation team... I am personally looking into the case,” he said.
Police took the bodies to the Jinnah Hospital mortuary. An FIR has been registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (murder). Speaking to The Express Tribune, the forensic expert at Jinnah Hospital said the women’s necks had been slit with a sharp knife.
Under the law
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Provincial Commission on the Status of women (PCSW) chairperson Fauzia Viqar said murder, for whatever reason, was a serious crime. Some people think they can get away with it by claiming it’s for honour.
She said the PCSW was working on addressing the very loopholes that allowed perpetrators of honour killings to go scot-free by pardoning each other. She also stressed the need for strenuous efforts to change the society’s mindset that condoned punishing women for taking their own decisions.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 12th, 2014.
COMMENTS (3)
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@Vikram: Don't make it a religious issue mate....its a cultural issue and everyone knows that these kind of things prevail in the subcontinent in one form or another
I have never heard about a Muslim father or son being killed for sake of honor.
When there is not any shame in society to lie, to cheat and to do dishonesty, then people find other reasons to trash and to vent out their anger. Often the underprivileged and minorities suffer from the reactions. This heinous crime is not an act by an individual but by a society that allows traversal of the aforementioned demoralization of societal values.