Noor Mukadam’s legacy

More than four years after Noor Mukadam was brutally murdered in Islamabad’s upscale F-7 neighbourhood, the memory of that terrible loss continues to haunt many across Pakistan.

It was an agonising event that still raises deeply troubling questions over the future of that test case, how similar cases can be prevented and, above all, the state of our society.

The answers to such questions will inevitably fall central to learning lessons from Noor Mukadam’s case, with a nationwide promise to never allow such an event to recur. The way forward, in brief, must be built upon preserving Noor Mukadam’s tragic legacy for a future cause.

In the latest development surrounding this unprecedented case, Zahir Jaffar, the convict is seeking relief to save his life. His last-ditch effort to avoid the gallows is reportedly built upon proving himself insane to support a mercy petition to the president.

For Asif Ali Zardari, the head of state of Pakistan, it would be a monumental mistake to grant the appeal anything more than an outright rejection. Mr Zardari’s choice to the contrary will only reinforce the view that blatant murderers, notably armed with wealth as reported in this case, can eventually be let off the hook.

What lies behind this terrible saga is not just rule of law that must be held central to Pakistan’s future. Equally vital is the compelling matter of ensuring that this terrible event never becomes a precedent to be repeated. There are also significant questions regarding the evolution of Pakistan’s societal trends that must be thoroughly considered.

As a regular writer, I was left at least half numbed following a visit to the neighbourhood of Noor’s murder just four years ago. The immediate neighbours made themselves unavailable for a meeting with visiting journalists. But at least two domestic servants working nearby divulged heartbreaking details of the hours and minutes when the tragedy unfolded.

As many across Pakistan mourn the late Noor Mukadam with the knowledge that she will never return, there are vital safeguards for women in distress which must be built. In other words, there is an ample opportunity to serve justice to Noor Mukadam’s cause, while reversing societal trends to prevent a recurrence of such events in future.

Lately, Pakistanis were left deeply shocked by the news of the brutal murders of a young couple in Balochistan, forced to face savage justice in the name of honour, through mechanisms with no backing of the state. Credit must be given to Pakistan’s national media for robustly highlighting that case. Tragically, however, the exact number of such victims across Pakistan remains unknown.

In some of Pakistan’s remote areas, there are reportedly graveyards for those killed in the name of honour. Visitors to such cemeteries immediately recognise their character, with no tombstones on graves that are never cemented, and no signs of maintenance around. Besides, funerals to such graveyards, which are attended by few, exclusively take place in darkness.

Such locations are a sorry reminder of the victims who lie there in their final resting places, killed in the name of preserving the honour of their families. Yet, the cause of justice, which lies only within the domain of the state, was left in complete tatters. For the immediate future, the fate of Noor Mukadam’s murderer lies in the hands of President Asif Ali Zardari, who will consider Zahir Jaffer’s plea for clemency.

But beyond that milestone, Pakistan needs to create two significant platforms immediately. First, it is important to immediately establish a national security team, ideally led by a woman police officer, to take charge of crimes involving the murders of women. The team must have the means to be deployed immediately across Pakistan, armed with state-of-the-art technical and intelligence resources, to comprehensively investigate cases of blatant violence involving the killings of women. A team of this nature, backed by the federal and provincial governments, must be facilitated for links with the wider civil society, to be urgently alerted to reports of future crimes involving women.

Second, Pakistan’s ruling structure across the board must recommit itself to the protection of women targeted in blatant crimes. A new platform must be built upon a central objective of building support for legislative initiatives to protect women.

Going forward, it is difficult to imagine that criminal targeting of women across Pakistan will end, even with fresh and well-meaning initiatives. But at the least, Pakistan must redouble its efforts to demonstrate that Noor Mukadam’s loss or that of others through blatant criminality was not in vain.

The writer is an Islamabad-based journalist who writes on political and economic affairs. He can be reached at: farhanbokhari@gmail.com