Although the legislation against ‘honour killing’ was passed in the year 2004, however, its implementation has seen many hurdles, prompting the need of an in-depth look. Taking a giant step to force the government to implement the law, the Aurat Foundation (AF)’s Legislative Watch Programme for Women’s Empowerment launched a pilot study ‘Honour Killings in Pakistan and Compliance of Law’ on Wednesday at a local hotel. Norwegian Ambassador Cecilie Landsverk participated in the event as a chief guest, National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), Member Nasreen Azhar chaired the launching ceremony.
Aurat Foundation Chief Operating Officer (COO) welcomed the participants and briefed them on the objectives behind carrying out the study on honour killings and compliance of law. Maliha Zia from Aurat Foundation said lack of overall consolidated data and that of the courts, categorisation of FIRs and reluctance of people to comment on the incidence of honour’ killings were the main reason affecting the implementation of the law, while ‘grave and sudden provocation’ and no liability of abettors was among other reasons. The study showed that a lot of cases were highlighted in the media but were not reported with the police or even if registered but not classified as honour killings, she added while noting that the language used in the FIRs was not gender sensitive.
She also pointed to the fact that courts usually gave decisions against the victims by using the provision of ‘grave and sudden provocation’. Another factor which hindered the compliance of law was that most of the honour crimes were committed by the family members, which resulted in the ‘unwillingness’ of the family to lose another member. Therefore, most of the cases end up in forced compromise, she said. She added that the institutions concerned also lacked the commitment necessary to implement the law. Human rights activists Tahira Abdullah, while analysing the study, said the only thing it lacked was that it did not cover any district from Seraiki area (Southern Punjab), where she believed, ‘honour’ killing was the most prevailing practice.
She also criticised the implementing agencies, saying around 77 percent of the honour killings cases ended in the acquittal of criminals. She paid tribute to late Shehla Zia, one of the founding chief of Aurat Foundation, for her vision, knowledge and struggle towards highlighting the issue of honour killings. She said the civil society must continue efforts working with progressive elements in all legislatures to table revised legislation on honour killings, rectifying the errors of omission. She also called for termination of all forms of parallel judicial systems, like jirga and panchayat. Cecilie Landsverk, while referring to the increase in the honour killing cases in Pakistan, noted an urgent need to look into the causes behind the brutal tradition and how the trend was still intact and even rising in a modern-day society.
