NCSW decries honour killing in Kohat

Islamabad

The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has strongly condemned the honour killing of Hina in Kohat.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Commission urged the authorities in Khayber-Pakhtunkha (KP) to ensure that the culprit is immediately arrested and duly punished under the newly enacted “Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or pretext of Honour) Act, 2016”. “Only exemplary punishment will prevent occurrence of such heinous crimes in future,” says the statement issued by NCSW Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz.

It says that the killing of Hina has very rightly triggered an out pouring of sorrow and condemnation by women and human rights activists demanding early
arrest and punishment of the killer.

“Hundreds of women are murdered by their relatives in Pakistan each year on the pretext of defending family ‘honour’ on a regular
basis. In this particular scenario an educated woman holding a M.Phil degree and working in a NGO was killed by her un-educated cousin who did not want her to work.”

It says that this is not the first case of this kind. “For how long can society want for justice in the face of such barbarous and gory crimes where women are murdered for exercising their fundamental right of making choices,” the statement further mentions.