Daily Times

Sir: Honour killing is on the rise despite number of efforts — despite passing the anti-honour killing bill from assemblies — honour killing cases are reported from different corners of the country.

The most recent case was reported in Faisalabad, where a man strangled his two sisters after being ‘suspicious’ about their characters.

At this point, efforts need to be made at the grassroots level. Passing a law or announcing strict punishment. Moreover, we must educate our people about this crime.

The power to hold the right of killing woman is taught in our homes, schools and societies. Women are considered as ‘honour’ of a family and in our society we always get emotional about our woman if we heard something wrong about her.

Men, on the other hand, are brought up to play the role of saviours who are stronger not only in the physical sense but also superior enough to make the right decisions. And when a man feels that he is losing his control over woman, he tries to rectify through violence, physical or emotional. Physical action often reported in the form of rape or honour killing or in shape of domestic violence, emotional remains confined within the four walls of their houses.

When we start teaching our males to be like a humans without having to live under the pressure of being strong and powerful, and letting women be an important part of the household than an object of honour, these incidents will be on decline. We need to spread this awareness to children at young ages, starting from schools, so that our men don’t grow up to become killers.

FAHEEM AHMED

Karachi

Published in Daily Times, June 26th, 2017.