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Honor Killings in Pakistan and the Legislation

Honor Killing (Shame Killing): The homicide of a member of a family by
other members, due to the perpetrators' belief that the victim has brought
shame or dishonor upon the family, or has violated the principles of a
community or a religion, usually for reasons such as refusing to enter an
arranged marriage, being in a relationship that is disapproved by their
family, having sex outside marriage, becoming the victim of rape, dressing in
ways which are deemed inappropriate, engaging in non-heterosexual
relations or renouncing a faith (BBC, 2013).
Statistics
5000 honor killings internationally per year.
1000 honor killings occur in India
1000 honor killings occur in Pakistan
12 honor killings per year in UK

From Feb 1, 2004, to Feb 1, 2006, there were 988 incidents of honor
killings in Pakistan. Nearly, but not exactly half, did not even have FIRs
registered for the crime. Firearms were the weapon of choice for doing away
with the victims, followed by blunt force injury with a heavy weapon. Fast-
forward a decade: from between February 2014 to February 2016. The
number of honor killings in this period was 1,276, nearly 400 did not have
FIRs registered, and most of the victims were killed by guns (Dawn, 2016).

LAHORE - Human Rights Commission of Pakistan database recorded

987 cases of honor killings in 2015, with 1,096 females and 88 males of
whom at least 170 were minors, said a an HRCP report on state of human
rights yesterday.
In 2014 about 1,000 women died in honor-related attacks and 869 in 2013.
The parliament made 20 laws. The president promulgated 12 ordinances.
The provincial legislatures adopted 120 laws. With 40 laws enacted, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa had the highest legislative output, followed by Sindh (32),

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Punjab (31) and Baluchistan (17). The provinces continued to use expanded
legislative authority under the 18th Constitutional Amendment to enact
several important laws, but implementation mechanism lagged behind.
Important legislation included Sindh Commission on the Status of Women
Act, Baluchistan Prevention and Control of Thalassemia Act, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Prohibition of Employment of Children Act (1,096 women killed for honor in
2015, The Nation).
The Interior Ministry disclosed in the National Assembly on Thursday
that during the last three years of Musharraf regime, over 4,000 women were
murdered all over Pakistan, including 1,019 in the name of honor. The
Interior Ministry also confirmed that 1,000 women were killed in the name of
honor during 2005-07, which gives an insight into the alarming rise in the
trend of killing women under that archaic tradition. One official said they had
to keep it in mind that these were only those cases of honor killing which
were reported to police stations. Otherwise, he feared that no one actually
knows how many more such cases were never reported by families of these
unfortunate women. the most shocking disclosure was made on account of
honor killing when it was revealed that in addition to murder of 3,000
women, 1,000 women were killed in the name of honor, 321 in 2005, 339 in
2006 and 359 in 2007. In addition, 4,290 women complained to the police
about domestic violence 1,330 in 2005, 1,677 in 2006 and 1,283 in 2007
(Shocking statistics of murder from Pakistan). In 2014 about 1,000 women
died in honor-related attacks and 869 in 2013. Nearly 1,100 women were
killed in Pakistan last year by relatives who believed they had
dishonored their families, the country's independent Human Rights
Commission says. The report said that 88 men were also the victims of
honor killings last year. Among the most infamous cases of honor killing in
Pakistan was the stoning to death of Farzana Parveen in 2014 outside the
High Court in Lahore. She had married against her family's wishes. The issue
of honor killings in Pakistan inspired a documentary film, A Girl in the River

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- The Price of Forgiveness, which won its creator, Sharmeen Obaid

Chinoy, an Oscar at this year's Academy Awards. In her acceptance
speech, she said it was after seeing the film that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
had vowed to change the law on honor killings (News, 2016).

(Tehreem Bano, 2016)

Law

ISLAMABAD: A joint session of the Parliament unanimously

approved anti-honor killing and anti-rape bills moved by PPP
Senator Farhatullah Babar on Thursday.

The legislation on honor killings will introduce strict punishment for the
convicts making it tougher than the ordinary murder cases.

Under the new law relatives of the victim would only be able to pardon
the killer if he is sentenced to capital punishment. However, the culprit would
still face a mandatory life sentence of twelve-and-a-half years.

Nawaz vows to ensure implementation of the legislation

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to ensure the implementation of
the legislation across the country as he congratulated the Parliament and

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entire nation on the passage of a bill providing for strict punishment on

honor killing.

I congratulate the Parliament, the NGOs, civil society, academia,

media and all those who worked hard and supported us in the passage of
this legislation, Nawaz said in a statement.

He said that honor killing was one of the most critical problems that Pakistan
had been facing and the government was determined to adopt all possible
ways to remove this stain from the society.

We have succeeded in our efforts today; there is no honor in

honor killing, the prime minister remarked.

We will make it sure to fully enforce this legislation across the country
as we did during its passage from the Parliament. Women are the most
essential part of our society and I believe in their empowerment, protection
and emancipation so that they can equally contribute towards development
and prosperity of our country, he reiterated. In July, days after the 'honor'
killing of social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch, a committee comprising
lawmakers from both the lower and upper houses of parliament unanimously
approved two bills aimed at tackling 'honor' killings and boosting rape
convictions.

The perpetrators of honor killings in which the victim, normally a

woman, is killed by a relative often walk free because they can seek
forgiveness for the crime from another family member. The law minister had
earlier said, "We have plugged all loopholes in the anti-honor killing
legislation." A 2005 amendment to the law pertaining to 'honor' killings
prevented men who kill female relatives pardoning themselves as an "heir"
of the victim (Dawn, 2016).

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The landmark bill passed on Thursday guarantees mandatory prison

sentences of 25 years and strips families of the right to legally pardon the
perpetrators of so-called honor killings, a practice that has allowed
thousands of murderers to walk free. The new law, which was passed by a
joint sitting of the two houses of Pakistans parliament, will allow relatives to
pardon the killer if he is sentenced to death. However, the culprit will not be
able to avoid a mandatory life prison sentence.

Sughra Imam, the former senator who first introduced the bill said the
new law was a step forward. She said: The original bill was more stringent,
but nonetheless, the new law will deter honor killings in the future because
perpetrators will not be able to avoid convictions.

This year the government had repeatedly promised to take action to close
legal loopholes around so-called honor killings, after the Oscar nomination of
a Pakistani documentary on the subject (The Guardian, 2016).

Honor Killings and its Relationship with Law

The presence of murders termed as honor killings exist not just in

Pakistan but in various countries around the world. A number of provisions
relating to honor killings exist in different legislations around the world. A
number of these provisions seem to be soft on the issue of honor killings. It is
pertinent to note that countries such as Brazil and Colombia in the last 2
decades have amended laws relating to partial or complete defense of so
called honor killings in their legislation28. However, there still exist negative
provisions in different laws around the world. It is also important to note that
the majority of these also use provocation as the main reasoning behind
leniency. Countries, such as Morocco, have systematically failed to address
the issue of honor killings. It, in fact, allows for leniency for the crime within
its law. The only amendment it made was in 2007 where it extended this
leniency to women along with men. In countries like Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan

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and Syria, the legislation allows for lesser punishment where there is
considered to be adequate provocation by violating cultural norms. Article
232 of the Penal Code of Yemen states if a man kills his wife or her alleged
lover in the act of committing adultery or attacking them causing disability,
he may be fined or sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one
year.

Honor Killings and Pakistani Law

In Pakistan, honor killings have regularly come for consideration before

the courts for years. Until 2004, there was no specific legislation dealing with
the issue. As a result, there is a huge body of jurisprudence pre-2004 that
has been providing narrow interpretations and discriminatory judgments for
a long time. It is important to take a cursory look at how the law on honor
killings un-folded in order to understand and appreciate how the courts deal
with honor killing cases currently. It is important also to have this information
to be able to analyze and see whether there has been modification and
advancement in the mindset of the judiciary while over-seeing such cases.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2004

In 2004, after years of advocacy from civil society, the Government

finally passed an act making honor crimes, especially honor killings illegal.
The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2004, referred to as the Honor Killings
Law made a number of changes in the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 (PPC) and
the Criminal Code of Procedure 1898 (CrPC), mainly making additions to
existing provisions to include qatl-i-amd (intentional murder) under the
pretext of honor. However, it is important to note that despite the huge
amount of advocacy and collaboration with parliamentarians, a number of
the vital changes demanded by civil society were not incorporated into the
Act (Lari, 2011).

Rationale behind Honor Killings

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Knudsen (2004) defines it in terms of familial respect (izzat) and social prestige
(ghairat); as a relation between a persons own feelings of self-worth and that of the peer-group
(honor group) to which he belongs. Honor is bestowed at the behest of society and, therefore, it
can also be lost and must be regained.

The second notion is that of women as the property of men. This concept of women as objects is
based on tribal cultures. Khan (2012) points out: "Women are considered the property of the
males in their family irrespective of their class, ethnic or religious groups. The owner of the
property has the right to decide its fate. The concept of ownership has turned women into a
commodity which can be exchanged, bought and sold"

This commodification of women is directly linked to the obsession with patrilineage i.e.
ensuring protection/ownership of the womens womb. As a womans only asset, as mentioned
above, is seen to be her reproductive capability and an object for sex desires, this concept is
taken further to establish the need of controlling womens sexuality. By exercising any freedom,
including sexual freedom, or attempts to break free of the control, she challenges the whole
social order, undermining the ownership rights of others to her body. Women's physical chastity
is of uppermost importance, and by the merest hint of 'illicit' sexual interest a woman loses her
inherent value as an object worthy of possession and therefore her right to life.
Khan discusses this in terms of a collective patriarchal male understanding. A man will be
considered respectable. If he is able to control the sexual behaviour of his wife, daughters and
sisters. This is only possible if he is able to control their movements, limit their mobility and
thereby reduce their interaction with strange men with whom they threaten to sully the familys
honor. The notions of purdah and the na-mehram play an essential role in this control. He does
this task on the assumption that if they do not protect their women, they cannot be assured to get
clean pure women for themselves. This practice is not a cultural or traditional phenomenon, it
very much has an economic basis and material motives.
By entering into an adulterous relationship a woman subverts the order of things,
undermines the ownership rights of others to her body and indirectly challenges the social order
as a whole. She becomes black, kari (Sindhi) or siyah, hence siyah kari in Balochi. Womens'
bodies must not be given or taken except in a regulated exchange effected by men.