Honour killing in Pakistan

In Pakistan honour killings are known locally as karo-kari (Sindhi: ڪارو ڪاري) (Urdu: کاروکاری). Karo-kari is part of cultural tradition in Sindh and is a compound word literally meaning "black male" (Karo) and "black female (Kari), in metaphoric terms for adulterer and adulteress. Once labeled as a Kari, male family members get the self-authorized justification to kill her and the co-accused Karo to restore family honour, although in the majority of cases the victim is female, while the murderers are male.

Karo-Kari can be defined as acts of murder, in which a woman is killed for her actual or perceived immoral behavior. Such "immoral behavior" may take the form of alleged marital infidelity, refusal to submit to an arranged marriage, demanding a divorce, perceived flirtatious behaviour and rape. Suspicion and accusations alone are many times enough to defile a family’s honour and therefore enough to warrant the killing of the woman. According to women's rights advocates, the concepts of women as property and honour are so deeply entrenched in the social, political and economic fabric of Pakistan that the government, for the most part, ignores the daily occurrences of women being killed and maimed by their families.

An Amnesty International report noted "the failure of the authorities to prevent these killings by investigating and punishing the perpetrators." Recent cases include that of three teenage girls who were buried alive after refusing arranged marriages. Another case was that of Taslim Khatoon Solangi, 17, of Hajna Shah village in Khairpur district, which was widely reported after her father, 57-year-old Gul Sher Solangi, publicized the case. He alleged his eight months’ pregnant daughter was tortured and killed on March 7 on the orders of her father-in-law, who accused her of carrying a child conceived out of wedlock. Statistically, honour killings have a high level of support in Pakistan's rural society, despite widespread condemnation from human rights groups. In 2002 alone over 382 people, about 245 women and 137 men, became victims of honour killings in the Sindh province of Pakistan.^{[citation needed]} Over the course of six years, more than 4,000 women have died as victims of honour killings in Pakistan from 1999 to 2004. In 2005 the average annual number of honour killings for the whole nation was stated to be more than 10,000 per year. According to women's rights advocates, the concepts of women as property, and of honour, are so deeply entrenched in the social, political and economic fabric of Pakistan that the government mostly ignores the regular occurrences of women being killed and maimed by their families." Frequently, women killed in honour killings are recorded as having committed suicide or died in accidents.

A conference held in May 2005 in Islamabad, Pakistan addressed whether Pakistani law, governments and international agencies were having any success in reducing honour killings in the country. They found that more cases of honour killing are being reported rather than hidden, and more women are having the courage to come forward. But, they found there was a severe lack of proper implementation of laws and assurances that men who commit honour killings are not given lighter sentences. The conference found fault with Pakistan's Zina laws that put women in an unfair disadvantage and inferior position, often at the mercy of men to prove their innocence.

It is noted by sociologists that honour killings do not necessarily have to do with religion, but rather the cultures in different regions. Savitri Goonesekere qualifies this claim, saying that Islamic leaders in Pakistan use religious justifications for sanctioning honour killings.

Karo-kari

Most karo kari cases are committed by a close relative - father, brother, son, or husband of the woman. Often, the victims are the most vulnerable members of the family or community. In either case, if and when the case reaches a court of law, the victim's family may 'pardon' the murderer (who may well be one of them), or be pressurised to accept diyat ('blood-money') as compensation. The murderer then goes free.

Once such a pardon has been secured, the state has no further writ on the matter although often the killers are relatives of the victim. Human rights agencies in Pakistan have repeatedly emphasized that women falling prey to karo-kari were usually those wanting to marry of their own will. In many cases, the victims held properties that the male members of their families did not wish to lose if the women chose to marry outside the family. More often than not, the karo-kari murder relates to inheritance problems, feud-settling, or to get rid of the wife, for instance in order to remarry.

Over 4,000 people have been murdered by this practice in Pakistan over the six years 1998-2004. Of the victims, almost 2,700 were women and just over 1,300 were men,; 3,451 cases came before the courts. The highest rate of the practice of Karo-kari were in Punjab, followed by the Sindh province. Lesser number of cases have also been reported in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and in Balochistan. More recently in 2005, the average annual number of karo kari for the whole nation ran up to more than 10,000 per year.

This pattern of murder has been resisted by Human Rights activists like Aitzaz Ahsan, Ayaz Latif Palijo, Asma Jahangir, Hina Jilani and Shahnaz Bukhari.

Karo-Kari is supposed to be prosecuted as ordinary murder, but in practice, police and prosecutors often ignore it. Often a man must simply claim the killing was for his honour and he will go free. Nilofar Bakhtiar, advisor to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, stated that in 2003, as many as 1,261 women were murdered in honour killings. On December 8, 2004, under international and domestic pressure, Pakistan enacted a law that made honour killings punishable by a prison term of seven years, or by the death penalty in the most extreme cases. Women and human rights organizations were, however, wary of this law, as it stops short of outlawing the practice of allowing killers to buy their freedom by paying compensation to the victim's relatives. Seeing as in most cases, it is the victim's immediate relatives, who are the killers, inherently the new law is just eyewash. It did not alter the provisions, whereby the accused could negotiate pardon with the victim's family under the Islamic provisions. Former judge Nasira Javed Iqbal told IRIN the bill allowed close relatives of the deceased to escape punishment with ease. In March 2005 the Pakistani parliament rejected a bill, which sought to strengthen the law against the practice of honour killing declaring it to be un-Islamic. However, the bill was brought up again, and in November 2006, it passed. However, it is doubtful that the law would actually help women in presence of the loopholes of the amendment.

Every year in Pakistan hundreds of women of all ages and in all parts of the country, are reported killed in the name of honour. Many more cases go unreported. Almost all go unpunished. Although women and human rights organizations, activists and moderates have called for seriousness and implementation from the authorities when dealing with the issue of honour killings, these continue to be opposed by hardline religious and conservative opposition in parliament, who claim the traditions serve to protect society from moral transgression namely adultery and amendments or repeal are seen as unislamic.

See also

• Misogyny
• Honour Killing
• Hudood Ordinance

Notes

• Shame (A 2005 documentary about Honour Killings in Pakistan)