Daily Times

The murders of newlyweds Uzma and Saif Rehman in Gujrat on November 1 has now been confirmed by police as being treated as a case of ‘honour killing’. The woman, a US national, married her Pakistani husband earlier this year in Glasgow (conceivably against her family’s wishes). A different Pakistani family living in Belgium is on trial for killing a female family member who had refused an arranged marriage and was living with a Belgian. The woman, Sadia Sheikh, was shot dead allegedly by her brother. The sketchy details of the murders notwithstanding, the cases highlight the unabated practice of karo kari, or ‘honour killing’ in Pakistan as well as among people of Pakistani origin abroad.

A deeply misogynist practice, ‘honour killings’ almost invariably refer to the killing of women, usually by male family members, deemed to have brought dishonour to the family. The most common dishonour ‘crimes’ cited are marrying against the wishes of the family, refusal to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking divorce, or alleged adultery.

This practice, together with other dehumanising and objectifying practices rooted in traditionally patriarchal feudal and tribal customs, is entrenched in Pakistani society. Forcing women into marriage (for example to settle disputes), and ‘marrying’ women to the Qur’an (to deprive them of their inheritance and to prevent the passage of their inheritance outside the family), thereby denying them the right also to love, family and children, remain widespread. The fact that it took three years for the National Assembly to pass a bill, just this month, specifically outlawing such practices, reflects the ubiquitous prevalence of such ‘practices’ within the ‘highest’ echelons of society.

On the one hand this betrays our failure as a society to change the deep primordial instincts to treat women as chattel or property, and on the other it demonstrates the state’s abject failure to protect even those rights of half the population that the other half enjoys. Though passage of the said bill is highly commendable, for it focuses on crimes against women peculiar and indigenous to our culture, it is far from enough. Without doubt, a legal framework makes the foundation for change. However, we know all too well that the proof is in the pudding, which is implementation in this case. Given the low rates of reportage or documentation of this nature of crime due to the vast gender power imbalance in the country, specific, tailor made mechanisms and forums must be designed and implemented as a matter of urgency to render the law effective for the protection of the lives, safety, dignity and honour of the women of Pakistan. *