Help of Ulema sought to curb honour killings in Kohistan

MANSEHRA: The police sought the help of religious scholars to curb honour killings in highly conservative Upper and Lower Kohistan districts.

“Kohistan is a place where clerics hold sway. I request them to issue decrees to bring an end to honour killings, which is totally repugnant to Islamic injunctions,” Saeed Wazir, deputy inspector general of police, Hazara Range, told reporters on Saturday.

He said that 23 honour killing cases were registered in Kohistan in the last five years.

“Many cases are not even registered,” he said

“This ratio is very high. I ask the Ulema to play their proactive role in bringing an end to it,” he said, adding, in honour killings facts were distorted to protect the accused.

“We have adopted all possible measures to bring an end to such killings in these highly conservative districts. I hope the Ulema would support us,” he added.

He feared that
development projects
being launched under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would cause hike in the price of land and the local people would kill their rivals over land related issues and dub it honour killings.

The DIG said that a similar incident happened in Shatial where a man first killed his wife and then his rival to settle an old enmity on a piece of land and termed it honour killing as nobody takes revenge in such cases.

He said that deprivation, poverty and low literacy rate in Kohistan were the major causes behind honour killings.

“It’s good that for the first time 10 Kohistani illiterate girls have applied for the posts of lady constables.

I have taken up this issue with the inspector general of police to relax the laws to induct them into the police force,” Saeed Wazir added.