Condemning the practice of honour killing, the speakers at a documentary launching ceremony on Tuesday demanded the government ensure justice to the victims by becoming a guardian in the honor killing cases.
The ActionAid-Pakistan launched the documentary ‘Deception of Honor’, where people from different sections of society participated. The speakers included Mukhtar Mai, a survivor of honour killing, Samar Minallah, a lawyer and social activist and Sana Saleem, a student. The launch was preceded by a day long activity of mural painting by artists and participants of the documentary launch.
Mukhtar Mai said that creating awareness about the passage of law on honour killings was the key to thwarting the evil tradition. “There should be a proper mechanism to make sure that women’s fate was not decided by the tribal Jirgas,” she said, adding that the government and the civil society should work together to educate people about the honour killings being illegal, un-Islamic and inhuman.
Samar Minallah appreciated the role of the parliament in passing several bills for women, including bills on acid violence, sexual harassment and honour killing. She highlighted the lacunas in proper implementation and interpretation of the law. She said that after the passage of the Customary Practices Bill, the state had declared such inhuman and gender insensitive practices as absurd and an offence as well.
She said that the Islamic jurisprudence stressed for punitive laws to curb evil practices but unfortunately, in case of the honour killings, no punitive measures had been taken so far. Referring to Mukhtar Mai, she said that women should not always be portrayed as victims rather they should be presented as survivors. These were the few brave women who had set an example of bravery and strength by not succumbing to social pressure and injustice, she added.
Sana Saleem stressed on the government to take steps for providing free medical treatment to rape victims, adding that the moral policing of women should be abandoned, which inhibits the scope of social justice for them.
Shabana Sheikh presented a case study of Sonia, an honour killing survivor from Shahdadkot, Sindh, who was also focused in the documentary.
In the documentary, Sonia narrates her story of having been forced to reach a compromise with her husband, under pressure from the family and also because she was a mother of three children. It helped the audience reflect upon the unjust social practices where the victims were forced to forgive the culprits. Therefore there was a unanimous demand that the state should come forward and protect the survivors by becoming their guardian.
The documentary was hosted by Rukhsana Shama, who briefed the audience about ActionAid’s efforts on the issue in the far flung areas of Pakistan. She said that mostly, the women were falsely accused by their family members and Jirgas and the motives for killing them were anything but honourable.
