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Case Study: HONOUR KILLINGS IN PAKISTAN
- More than 1,000 Pakistani women were the
victims of honour killings in 1999 according to a report by
the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
- Under international and Pakistani statutes,
these women should have received equal protection of the law.
Few of their killers have been brought to justice.
Analysis
Women in Pakistan, as everywhere, are entitled to "life,
liberty and security of person" (article 3) but they are
also entitled to the equal protection of the law should their
lives be threatened.
Among some traditional rural communities in
Pakistan, women have been killed for seeking a divorce, for
marrying without family consent or if they have been suspected
of having an affair. An Amnesty International report quotes
a human rights activist in Baluchistan who said the distinction
between a woman being guilty and a woman being alleged to be
guilty of illicit sex is irrelevant. "What impacts on the
man's honour is the public perception, the belief of her infidelity.
It is this which blackens honour and for which she is killed."
 I
went to bring water from the nearby stream. A stranger
came and asked me the way to another village. My husband
was looking from the window. When I reached home,
he was furious and sharpening the butcher's knife.
I thought he might help me in cooking the chicken
that night, but he tied my hands and legs and, first,
started beating me. Then with a blow he cut my nose
and both my ears. There was nobody at home who could
have saved me. He left and I was in a pool of blood.
I left my house and am staying with my parents. I
will not be at peace until I get justice which seems
a distant dream |
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Woman in Dera Murad
Jamali, Baluchistan
interviewed for 'I have a right to'
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Although killings take place publicly, there
is a reluctance on the part of the police to become involved
in what is regarded as a private family affair. The perpetrator
is often the victim's husband, father, brother or a near relative.
Human Rights groups in the country say the situation is compounded
further by the right allowed to the victim's wali (guardian)
to pardon the killer, under the Islamic provisions introduced
into the penal code in 1990.
Pakistan's military leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf,
has pledged to treat the practice as murder and to end laws
that discriminate against women. The National Commission for
Women has formed a standing committee of legal experts who are
looking into the impact of laws relating to adultery and rape,
known as 'Zina and Haddood Ordinances'. Human rights organisations
have welcomed the step. The Commission Chairperson has stated
that recommendations will be put forward by mid-2001.
However, the fault does not lie in laws alone.
It is claimed that in many cases, the judiciary has interpreted
laws according to subjective considerations and implicitly justified
honour killings. Human rights campaigners therefore argue that
laws on paper alone won't protect women; they must be enforced
and seen to be enforced. The perpetrators of honour killings
must not feel they can act with impunity.
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