While conviction rate in cases of honour killing in Pakistan has always remained low due to poor criminal law and justice system as well as societal norms, nearly 933 people, mostly women, were killed for honour between 2014 and 2015 in different parts of the country, according to official figures provided by the Ministry of Human Rights in 2015, while Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in its report said that 1,096 cases of honour killing were reported during these years.
Since honour killing in most cases is committed by one of the closest relatives of the victim, the perpetrators get away with the crime after being pardoned by another member of the family, rendering the existing laws infructuous in a crime that is chiefly against society and continues with a depressing regularity.
Prosecution in cases involving violence against women, let alone honour killings, is so sluggish that mostly these incidents are swept under the carpet or never come to the fore, notably in areas governed by feudal lords and tribal elders.
How dangerous Pakistan is for women can be judged from the survey Thomson Reuters Foundation had conducted in 2011 which put Pakistan on third place on the list of most dangerous countries for women.
But, 19-year-old Saba, an honour killing survivor from Gujranwala, who featured in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Oscar-winning documentary “A Girl in the River”, lived to tell her tale.
Saba was beaten, shot and thrown in a canal by her uncle and father for leaving the house to marry the man of her choice. The girl was strong enough to get help from a nearby gas station despite being shot in the face.
Saba reported her case to police and kept reiterating that she would not forgive her father and uncle, but her in-laws were under huge pressure to withdraw the complaint, as shown in the documentary. The family eventually cowed down to the pressure and Saba had to forgive the accused who then came out of the prison.
Saba’s case was extraordinary because she had refused to die in silence. She stood up for her right to make her own choices, despite her rural background and the fact that she went to grade six only.
Saba’s courage is a source of inspiration for victims of violence and persecution everywhere, but the fact that Pakistan’s judicial system could not do justice to her is disturbing, to say the least. Saba did not want to forgive the criminals who made her life hell, but she had to do so in the end. Those who tried to kill her came out of jail after her statement before the court and are now walking as free men.
Saba’s decision to pardon her father and uncle was not her own. It was forced upon her by circumstances that the weak justice system created, the system that refuses to help the victims when they are pressurised to withdraw their complaint. The offence committed by Saba’s father and uncle was not against individual but against the state. Why should an individual have the authority to ‘forgive’ the criminal of the state?
Legal expert and lawyer Asad Jamal, who was also Saba’s lawyer, is of the opinion that Islamic laws like Qisas and Diyat have privatised murder which is one of the reasons why perpetrators easily get away with honour crimes.
Talking to Pakistan Today, he said that in such cases the option of forgiveness cannot be left entirely to the victim and/or her relatives.
“It is a crime against society and society must ensure that such incidents do not recur. Therefore, if Saba had to forgive her tormentors it is the criminal law and the justice system which failed her”, he said.
Jamal said even though the law declares honour killing a murder, the criminal law in general is reduced to personal matter.
Lawyer and former Lahore Bar Association president Nasira Javed Iqbal said that Saba’s story is real and not morphed, as some in Pakistan would suggest. Speaking to Pakistan Today, she said that the state is the prosecutor in Saba’s case and that the accused should not have been released on the complainant’s statement.
Nasira said that there have been no efforts by the governments to put an end to honour crimes because the Mullahs (clerics) resist every move to minimise the crimes against women. “They (mullahs) were empowered during the Zia-era and continue to enjoy influence in political issues. These crimes will not end until Mullahs are shown the door,” she opined.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairman IA Rehman said that the victims of honour crimes have nowhere to go as they are disowned by their families. In most cases even the husband fails to protect his wife and the couple is threatened by the community and the influential people of their area, he told Pakistan Today.
Rehman said it is society’s mindset that is to be blamed for honour crimes and the system’s failure to protect and provide justice to the victim.