As many as 417 people, including 152 men and 265 women, became victims of a total of 313 incidents of honour killings this year across Pakistan.
In Punjab, around 152 incidents of honour killings were reported while Sindh stood second with 96 cases. A total of 42 incidents of honour killings were reported from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 21 from Balochistan, one from Gilgit-Baltistan, and one from the federal capital.
This was said at an event titled ‘Witch Hunt/Karo-Kari’ held at the Karachi Press Club on Monday. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Sindh Vice President Qazi Khizar informed the event that in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, as many as 21 incidents of honour killings had so far been reported in 2022.
He added that 13 such cases had been reported from Jacobabad, 13 from Larkana, nine from Kashmore, 10 from Ghotki, seven each from Kamber-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Sukkur and Khairpur, and two from Naushehro Feroz.
Khizar explained that according to the data maintained by the HRCP, as many as 118 persons became the victims of honour killings in Sindh, of whom 75 were women.
He added that another organisation, Sindh Suhai Sath, claimed that in the first six months of the current year, 123 persons were killed in Sindh in honour killing incidents and 88 of them were women.
He termed lawlessness, low literacy rate and feudal system under which influential feudal lords had made society hostage in the name of so-called tribal traditions the reasons behind incidence of honour killings.
He lamented that there was some acceptance for the heinous crime in our society. “Even the residents of those areas from where the highest number of Karo-Kari cases were reported don’t consider it a crime while the killers feel proud.”
Khizar told the event that the victims of honour killing were buried without funeral prayers.
“People kill women to restore the family honour. Also, the family members of the victims don’t cooperate with law enforcers in conducting a proper investigation. There is an urgent need to make a mechanism for the investigation of such cases,” the HRCP official remarked.
Sohail Sangi, journalist and activist, said that due to access to education, the incidents of honour killings had decreased in recent years compared to the past. He added that after the Zia regime, military dictator General Musharraf tried to revive tribal traditions system especially in southern Sindh, due to which there had been a surge in the incidents of honour killings in those areas.
The journalist said our society had still not come out of tribal traditions. Explaining the incidence of such killings in Karachi, he stated that the level of intolerance was extremely high and even highly educated families were more conservative than those who led a simple life in villages.
Prof Dr Riaz Sheikh, dean of social sciences and education at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (Szabist), stressed the need for an organised movement that could put pressure on the state to make effective legislation against honour killings.
Mahnaz Rehman of the Aurat Foundation said honour killings were a factory of blackmailing women. She lamented that the killers, feudal lords who conducted Jirgas, and sometimes even the families of the victims also received monetary benefits.
Moderating the session, Prof Dr Tausif Ahmed Khan concluded that our conservative society was also responsible for killings in the name of honour.
