Every now and then we hear of the regressive forces prevalent in our society unreluctantly (and often, quite proudly) killing any female perceived to have brought dishonour to the family. Known by a myriad of names, honour killing has become a routine matter in Pakistan that accounts for at least one-fifths of all such murders in stark contrast to a host of laws specifically made against this lingering curse.
But what to do when the tables get turned and a woman manages to wipe her entire family off the face of this earth because they refused to give consent to a marriage of choice? That not one, not two but a tragic 13 members of a family lost their lives in Sukkur to a poison administered by one of their own is an abysmal commentary on the state of our affairs.
A crime that shocked the community and took painstaking efforts by the local police cannot be defended in any manner whatsoever. But while the suspect claims to have made the lethal concoction with the hopes of seeking the victims’ approval for a union of her choice, there are a couple of loopholes that still need to be tied. Any subsequent connection with expired or counterfeit drugs or the usual culprit of “magical” cures needs to be investigated to prevent such tragedies in the future. However, before hopping aboard the female-bashing bandwagon where toxic patriarchy celebrates this rare occurrence as a textbook example of what can go wrong if given a free hand, it would be a worthwhile exercise to think about the factors that led to a point of no return.
Despite limited statistics, research substantiates that honour killings do not differentiate between ages, religions, social status, wealth, education, or even location. Similarly pervasive is the familial notions of encapsulating “love” marriages as purely satanic. Newspapers are littered with horrific examples of the conflicts women are made to endure if they dare raise their heads and show even remote signs of their free will.
Should what happened in Sukkur then be considered a wake-up call for those who equate a fundamental right to a push towards the brink of social chaos? The pressure cooker cannot go on whistling forever. *
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