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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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