Our Neighbours -- Pakistan
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Honour Killings in Pakistan
Asian Legal Resource Centre -- ALRC
Tuesday, 6th April 2004
For more information, please contact:
In
Hong Kong, Sanjeewa Liyanage: + (852) - 2698-6339
Statement on ''Honour Killing' in Pakistan' received by
Commission on Human Rights
(Geneva, 6 April 2004) -- The written statement of the
Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) on ''Honour Killing' in Pakistan'
(E/CN.4/2004/NGO/21) was distributed on the 2nd April 2004 at
the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in
Geneva.
The full text of the statement follows.
This year, ALRC submitted 30 written statements to the
Commission, on topics as diverse as caste discrimination in Nepal, food
scarcity in Myanmar, custodial deaths and torture in India,
extrajudicial killings in Thailand, policing in Pakistan, the National
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and impunity in Asia.
The complete list of statements, with full texts and
links to the original versions, can be viewed on the ALRC website, at
http://www.alrc.net/mainfile.php/60written/.
Asian Legal Resource Centre -- ALRC, Hong Kong
'Honour killing' in
Pakistan
1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre is gravely concerned
with the continued honour killings in Pakistan, and the impunity with
which they are committed. During 2003, around 1261 cases of honour
killings were reported, with 938 committed against women and 323 against
men. Of these 1261 cases of violent crimes related to so-called "honour,"
94 were reported in January, 82 in February, 120 in March, 92 in April,
148 in May, 135 in June, 86 in July, 170 in August, 107 in September,
106 in October, 53 in November and 68 in December.
2. In most of the honour killing incidents, women are
killed on assumed suspicions without any chance to defend themselves.
These murders are committed in obstinacy and in most cases the culprits
go unpunished, sometimes by courts of law.
3. A case in point: a medial report of 19 December 2003
stated that an elderly woman elected councillor, Faiz Batool, from
Sillanwala tehsil of Sargodha, was paraded naked through a bazaar
by goons of the Kalyar tribe. This was done for an alleged brawl
involving the tribe. The victim's family alleged that the influential
tribe is now pressurising them to withdraw the complaint lodged with the
police. The police did nothing to protect the victim or to apprehend the
culprits. A member of the Parliament and of the Kalyar tribe,
though not related to the accused, knows the details of the case, but
did not help the victim in getting redress. The surfacing of this
incident failed to move the higher authorities to effect any change in
the way the administration, at local and tehsil level, operate in
coherence with local feudal lords and their muscle-men.
4. In another incident, Mohammad and Shanzia Hassan, who
were married of their own free will, were killed by a firing squad in
pursuance of a decision made by the jirga, despite the resistance of the
girl's father, who told the jirga that he had pardoned his daughter.
Their marriage was resented by the Khaskheli clan, to which the
girl belonged. The couple was summarily arrested and illegally
imprisoned for some time prior to their deaths. The police registered a
case against the unknown murderers, failing to record the names of the
arrested persons who were standing near the dead bodies of the couple
with an unlicensed pistol in the First Information Report.
5. This is indicative of the violence and discrimination
that girls and women face in Pakistan. It also illustrates that the
government of Pakistan is doing little to change the situation. While
33% participation of women is established in legislature at all tiers,
including local, provincial and national, records show that there has
not been a single resolution passed, nor is there a discussion of the
menace of honour killings at any level. Not only this, but female
members of parliament rarely even speak out in sessions.
6. According to a female MPA, Sassui Palijo of the Sindh
assembly, the mere presence of women in parliament does not mean that
any changes will occur, because there is no rule of law and even
government ministers openly support discriminatory practices such as
honour killings and the Jirga system. When one particular member of
parliament attempted to raise the issue of honour killings in an
assembly session, he was not allowed to speak and was later threatened.
7. Similarly, although the government of Pakistan formed
the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in July 2000 to
make recommendations for the review of discriminatory laws against
women, none of the Commission's recommendations has been heeded as of
yet. A report recommending the repeal of the discriminatory and
controversial Hudood Ordinances of 1979 was submitted last August to the
cabinet, but has not yet even been taken up for consideration.
8. The jirga system present in Pakistan is the main
obstacle to the ending of honour killings, as the Asian Legal Resource
Centre stated in its previous submission on the matter
[E/CN.4/2003/NGO/95]. The government of Pakistan has so far done little
to unify the country's legal systems. Rather, the government has given
more power to politicians and feudal lords under its schemes to
allegedly dispense justice, such as the 2002 Police Order, on which the
Asian Legal Resource Centre has made a separate submission.
9. An example of the country's slow and ineffective
justice mechanisms is that only in December 2003 did the country's
highest court of law, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, rule that an adult
Muslim female was entitled to marry of her own free will, without having
to obtain the consent of her wali, or guardian. In its judgement,
the court observed that a Muslim female, on reaching 18 years of age,
and being sane of mind, was not required to seek the permission of her
guardian or father to enter into a valid contract of nikah, or marriage,
and that an attestation by the couple was sufficient proof of marriage.
The verdict has overturned the ruling of a provincial court, in two
separate decisions in 1997, confirming that any marriage without the
approval of a guardian was invalid. However, human rights activists fear
that persons opposing such a marriage can always plead that the woman in
question is insane.
10. These cases of honour killings will not be stopped
unless the state immediately bans the traditional jirga system, which is
the prime protector of the honour killings tradition. The government and
state machinery are natural allies of the feudal lords, and the feudal
lords are the upholders of honour killings.
11. With this in mind, the Asian Legal Resource Centre
urges the Commission to:
a. Pressure the government of Pakistan to take necessary
action to stop the Jirga and Panchayat based parallel system run by
local feudal lords.
b. Ensure that the recommendations of the National
Commission on the Status of Women are implemented and laws are amended
accordingly.
c. Urge the government of Pakistan to enact legislation
on honour killings and take necessary action to stop such events.
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