Men still killing women for 'honour' in Pakistan, despite new law

A year since new laws came into force aimed at stemming the flow of honour killings scores of young women in deeply conservative Pakistan are still being murdered by relatives for bringing shame on their familyThe shocking murder of Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch by her brother last July turned the spotlight on an epidemic of socalled honour killings and sparked a fresh push to close loopholes allowing the killers to walk freeLongawaited legislation was finally passed three months later in a move cautiously hailed by womens rights activists But more than a year on lawyers and activists say honour killings are still occurring at an alarming paceAt least 280 such murders were recorded by the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan from October2016 to June of this year a figure believed to be underestimated and incompleteThere has been no change Benazir Jatoi a lawyer who works for the independent Aurat Foundation a womens rights watchdog told AFPIn fact the Peshawar High Court twice acquitted a man of honour crimes after this law was passed she added The new legislation mandates life imprisonment for honour killings but whether a murder can be defined as a crime of honour is left to the judges discretionThat means the culprits can simply claim another motive and still be pardoned said Dr Farzana Bari a widelyrespected activist and head of the Gender Studies Department at Islamabads QuaidiAzam UniversityThey can do so under Pakistans Qisas blood money and Diyat retribution law which allows them to seek forgiveness from a victims relatives a particularly convenient means of escape in honour casesBari called for a study on the murders of women over the past year to ascertain the scale of the problemThe convoluted courts system also often sees police encouraging parties to enter blood money compromisescircumventing the beleaguered judicial system altogetherForgiveness and compromise negates justice Jatoi said Asma Jahangir one of Pakistans most acclaimed human rights lawyers agreed telling AFP The law will be implemented once the courts functionThe roots of honour killings lie in tribal social norms which remain prevalent across South Asia and dictate the behaviour of women in particular Women have been shot stabbed stoned set alight andstrangled for bringing shame on their families for everything from refusing marriage proposals to wedding the wrong man and helping friends elopeMen can be victims too but the violence is overwhelmingly aimed at women The double standard is glaring Generally Pakistanis will accept a man who has committed rape a senior police official who has overseen honour killing investigations told AFPBut if a woman is even suspected of an affair it is considered a shame for the family and not forgiven the official who asked to remain anonymous as he was not authorised to speak to media told AFPPeople even sympathise with and praise the men who murder their women for socalled honour he saidEven when the state does take steps to implement the law as with the murder of Qandeel Baloch the wheels of justice often get stuck in the mudBaloch achieved notoriety in Pakistan with her social media antics tame by Western standards but consideredprovocative in a misogynistic country where women have fought for their rights for decades Her brother Waseem told reporters that of course he had strangled his sister finding her behaviour intolerableAt first Balochs heartbroken parents vowed they would give Waseem no absolution But well over a year later the trial is still grinding its way through the courts This length of time is not unheard of for Pakistani murder cases but it has been long enough as often happens for Balochs father to change his mindI want my son to return home Mohammad Azeem told AFP near the central city of Multan recently dismissing Waseems proud statements My son is innocentHad international revulsion over the killing not seen the Pakistani state take the unprecedented step of declaring itself an heir alongside Balochs parents their forgiveness could have already seen Waseem walk free