Daily Times

Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus: The hero’s daughter Lavinia has been raped and mutilated, and Andronicus contemplates her “honour” killing. He slays his daughter with his own right hand because “she was enforced, stained and deflowered? /And with thy shame thy father’s sorrows die/But does the father’s sorrow die?” There is remorse, for sure. Families commit these crimes, motivated by cultural aspects, but when they calm down, they feel regret. Nobody kills a wife or a sister or a daughter without feeling remorse later.

Though relatively rare, killing a family member in the name of honour should be a cause for shame, not pride, as it reflects a cowardly compliance with inhumane norms. Killing someone, especially a family member, is something difficult to contemplate, although I have seen in my clinical experience that some of the worst physical, sexual and psychological abuses and even murders are perpetrated by relatives.

One of the hardest concepts to introduce about “honour killings” is the concept and meaning of “honour” in the context of honour killings. Many at first instance oppose the use of the word honour due to its frequent interchangeable positive attributions. Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind that even though the origin of the term honour in context of the killings is positive, the mens rea element for the killing is fuelled from the preservation of the same positive attribution, albeit in an extreme culturally pressured dosage.

Once the meaning and origin of the term has been elaborated it becomes clear that honour is deeply embedded in a patriarchal society. These patriarchal societies have their entire social framework around the protection and regulation of female sexuality. To change the entire framework of societies will take hundreds of years.

Under the wide scope of crimes of honour that happen, honour killing is perhaps the most heinous of them all. Under the crime of honour killing the victim is usually not a third person but rather the victim‘s own family member or social group member. The perpetrator in many cases is a brother or father whose cultural role initially was supposed to be protecting the victim from any harm. The perpetrator in these crimes has no economic motivation and is purely fuelled by the abstract desire to bring back the honour to the family by eliminating the family member who brought dishonour.

In some ways, it is more horrifying and tragic when abuses are committed not to satisfy some base motives but for the apparently exalted ideal of honour. Each year, thousands die around the world from the Middle East to the Indian subcontinent, and from Latin America to China in the name of family honour. Victims of these crimes are mostly women. Although most honour killings are ordered by men and carried out by men, the fact is that sufferers are in fact a victim twice over. Once for being blamed for rape and then being murdered for dishonouring the family. This is not unusual in the grizzly annals of this type of crime where a woman’s virginity is worth more than her life. In fact, there are women in the most conservative circles who have paid with their lives for malicious gossip of others.

It is not just the fact that someone can muster up the ability to murder a loved one that disturbs; it is also the cruel manner and abandon some people bring to the task. The crime can also be cruel on the chosen executioner. Families often choose one of the younger men, often a minor to carry out the crime because he will probably get off with a lighter sentence, although the powerless youngster is condemned to a lifetime of trauma and often regret.

Although campaigners have so far failed to change the law that enables honour murderers to get off lightly, the struggle is as much about changing cultural perceptions and attitudes as it is about legislation. Public and judicial tolerance of these crimes is wearing thin as the silent majority begins to raise their objections to these barbaric acts. The protection of every woman’s life should be a key issue for government and community alike. Real honour is about tolerance, equality and civil responsibility.

Is this mindset true to the state that Pakistanis claim to be boasting of? What is the sense in establishing a blinkered Muslim state that permits its own mothers and daughters to live in fear? Tribal beliefs, meanwhile, also continue to maintain a warped conception of honour, as women slayings and numerous other honour killings are commonplace. Fear of punishment by law has not eradicated the practice. Perhaps, police are partially to blame for tending to view the phenomenon as an internal family matter that does not require police intervention. But as critics have pointed out, punishment, rational arguments, better police enforcement and education alone will not stop honour killings. Promoters of this despicable practice must be defamed, and even ridiculed if need be, by peers and others whose respect they seek, until they come to the realisation that by performing honour killings they are bringing upon themselves and upon others associated with them nothing but shame.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 1,005 honour killings were reported in the country in 2014. Victims included 923 women and 82 minor girls, a higher number compared to 869 cases in 2013. Incidentally, these are only cases that are reported, whereas most of the cases, however, still go unreported even today.

After media and public raised concerns on honour killings, the Punjab Assembly passed the Protection of Women Against Violence bill earlier this year. It penalises some crimes against women, including domestic violence, emotional, economic and psychological abuse, cybercrime, stalking and abetment of offenders. However, the legislation could prove difficult to implement in a religiously conservative society. Legislation-making bodies drag their feet when it comes to going against customs since they know that any such manoeuvre could lead to political suicide. Although religious leaders condemn killings, there is alos widespread support for these barbaric acts. These crimes are often hidden by families and their well-wishers or are legally excused under a law that permits the victim or the family to forgive the murderers.

Application of Islamic laws of Qisas and Diyat creates a way for forgiveness in the law governing honour killing, and allows people to pardon the murderer. Under the Islamic law, legal heirs of a deceased victim have the ultimate say in whether to pardon or punish an accused. Tragedy buried in here is that victims who survive are forced to forgive the perpetrators because of
these laws.

The writer is a professor of psychiatry and consultant forensic psychiatrist in the UK. He can be contacted at fawad_shifa@yahoo.com