12 years and 15,222 women: Pak’s honour killing roll call

Islamabad: At least 15, 222 Pakistani women fell victim to honour killing in last 12 years, a survey report said.

The report published by Petarian Human Rights Organization (PHRO) states that at least 4,734 cases of sexual harassment, 5,508 cases of women abduction were notified in last 12 years whereas 1,535 women were set ablaze and 35,935 women committed suicide during same period. Likewise, 1843 women were subjected to domestic violence.

PHRO Chairman Ehsan Ali Khosa deplored absence of legislation to stop violence against women. Last year 1100 cases of honour killing were reported, but the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) estimates at least another 1,000 went unreported. “We need to change the mindset of the society,”  said Abdul Hai from the HRCP.

The perpetrators of honour killings — in which the victim, normally a woman, is killed by a relative on the pretext of defending family ‘honour’ — often walk free because they can seek forgiveness for the crime from another family member. A 2005 amendment to the law pertaining to honour killings prevented men who kill female relatives pardoning themselves as an heir of the victim.

But punishment was left to a judge’s discretion when other relatives of the victim forgive the killer, a loophole which critics say had been exploited. Last year, the National Assembly passed a bill mandating judges to sentence someone who kills in the name of honour to life imprisonment even if he was forgiven and thereby avoid death penalty.