KARACHI: University of Karachi (KU) Vice-Chancellor (VC) Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan has said that the primitive culture, as well as the tribal system in the county, is one of the major reasons behind violence against women in the country.
He was addressing a seminar titled ‘End violence against women and girls’ here on Thursday. The seminar was part of 16-day long activities chartered by the United Nations (UN) against violence and crimes being faced by women. The event was jointly organised by the KU and Management Consultancy and Training Services.
“All four provinces are a victim of honour killings and crimes against females,” said Dr Khan while stressing upon collective and continuous efforts to change society’s mindsets in order to prevent crimes and violence against females.
“We must develop a culture which has the capacity to raise voice against such issues and come forward to stop these problems at the grassroots level; otherwise, it will be very difficult to achieve the target,” he added.
He advised the audience to avoid self-projection and work constructively for the betterment of the society instead. “Both individuals and groups must play their role in spreading awareness among their circles of family, friends and relatives as well as work and worship places so that we can practically do something to end violence against women and girls,” he said.
Dr Khan said that society can be educated to bring a change; however, implementing all desired changes in oneself helps in achieving the desired results in a much shorter span of time. “We cannot bring changes by preaching only. We cannot force people to adopt changes. But along with teaching, having a practical approach and in-depth analysis can help in getting positive results,” he added.
The KU VC stated that violence against women and girls could not be stopped without eradicating socio-economics barriers as they are one of the major reasons behind such crimes.
Former Sindh inspector general of police (IGP) Niaz Siddiki shed light on how society can prevent honour killings and other crimes against females. “All kind of systems are made and run by humans. So, if we want to make a change and improve society, we have to change ourselves first.”
He informed the audience that honour killing is a homicide crime. Sharing the details of honour crimes, he mentioned that 87 per cent women and 13 per cent of men are victims of violence in Pakistan.
According to him, a recent survey report shows that close relatives were almost always involved in honour crimes and killings.
He further shared that 21 per cent brothers, 15 per cent fathers, 11 per cent intimate partners and cousins, nine per cent relatives, seven per cent spouses, three per cent unknown factors and one per cent women are behind honour killing incidents. “Although everyone in this country claims to be a good Muslim, both women and men are killed in name of so-called honour despite that fact that killing is strongly prohibited in Islam and there are numbers of verses in the Holy Quran in this regard,” he reminded.
He mentioned that Punjab has the highest honour related crime rate while Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan are second, third and fourth, respectively.
The former IGP also informed that honour crime victims are buried without offering funeral prayers or shrouds in rural Sindh and no other bodies are allowed be to buried near those victims.
Meanwhile, UN Women Sindh Chapter President Kapil Dev mentioned that most of the victims of violence do not have access to social and mainstream media. “It is unfortunate that crime data against women is not available in the country and the masses did not raise their voices against honour crimes,” Kapil said.
Local television channel The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Faiz Borohi claimed that the positive use of social media could help in identifying and stopping cases of violence.
Fouzia Tariq of Management Consultancy and Training Services informed the audience about the categories and reasons for honour crimes and how to stop them. She encouraged participates to speak up against such crimes and teach children around them how to behave with females.
