WUNRN
PAKISTAN - HUNDREDS OF WOMEN DIE FOR
"HONOUR" EACH YEAR
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Many “honour” killings go unreported.
The answers to these questions will never be known. In one of the most
harrowing “honour” killings reported in recent months in the country, Saima
was, according to media reports, murdered by her relatives. They committed the
crime following a ruling by a gathering of village elders that she be put to
death by electrocution for eloping with a man she had chosen to marry. Police
are investigating the murder and the prime minister has ordered the findings be submitted urgently.
An autopsy report states the girl had died due to severe burn injuries. Her
relatives had said she had committed suicide. A police officer in Hakra
village, where Saima died, Afzal Lodhi, told IRIN “a raid was conducted to
recover Saima’s body” after police received a tip-off over the phone.
Murders of the kind which ended Saima’s life are not uncommon. According to the
autonomous Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), over 600 women were
killed for “honour” in 2009. This usually entails the murder of women suspected
of having sexual relations outside marriage; choosing who to marry rather than
accepting decisions made by families; or behaving in other ways that are seen
as “immoral”. Other “honour” killings go unreported, especially when they take
place in remote, rural areas.
“Such killings occur when the `honour’ of male members of a household is
perceived to have been injured,” said I.A.Rehman, the secretary-general of
HRCP.
Though women aged over 18 have the legal right to marry of their own free will
“tradition” means they are expected to go along with parental choices.
“My marriage was `arranged’ by my family, and I plan to arrange the marriages
of my two daughters, aged 15 and 13, when they are older, because such matches
bring the families closer together,” Bushra Suhail, 42, told IRIN.
“Forgiving” the perpetrators
While “honour” killings are regarded as murder by the law, Islamic provisions
allow the relatives of a victim to “forgive” the perpetrator, and choose to
accept blood-money rather than seek capital punishment, a factor that is
believed by rights activists to make it difficult to end such murders.
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“I think unless the law provides non-compoundability, in other
words no provision for forgiveness, we can never deal with what we call
`honour’ crimes. This should be a crime against the state and not a person.
What happens is the father [of a woman] kills and his son forgives, or the son
kills and the father forgives. This happens time and again,” Fouzia Saeed,
director of the NGO Mehergarh and a member of the government’s National Commission
on the Status of Women, told IRIN.
Apart from “honour” killings, women also suffer brutality of various kinds,
following accusations of “immoral” conduct. This has included the shaving of heads or
incidents in which they have suffered mutilation of various kinds.
The number of such incidents is unknown.
“Judging by what is reported in the media, the most horrific violence is being
inflicted on women. The trend seems to be increasing, perhaps as social
tensions and frustrations grow due to economic hardship and related factors,”
Gulnar Tabbusum, convenor of the Women’s Action Forum, an organization which
works for the rights of women, told IRIN.
“Many young women today are educated and would like to have a choice in whom
they marry. But incidents such as the electrocution and torture of Saima Bibi
leave us afraid. We hesitate even to claim this right,” Asiya Batool, 19, told
IRIN.
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http://www.hrcp-web.org/shownews.asp?id=41
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
PAKISTAN - VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ROSE 13% in 2009
Cases of violence against women witnessed a 13 per cent increase in 2009 in one year, statistics collected by team of Aurat Foundation show
Cases
of violence against women witnessed a 13 per cent increase in 2009 in one year,
statistics collected by team of Aurat Foundation show.
Addressing
a Press conference here on Monday, the foundation’s representative Rabeea Hadi
said that 8,548 incidents of violence against women were reported in the four
provinces and in Islamabad last year. Of them, 5,722 incidents were recorded in
Punjab, 1762 in Sindh, 655 in NWFP, 237 in Balochistan and 172 in Islamabad.
She said that 7571 incidents of violence had been reported in 2008.
In
Islamabad, the 172 incidents included 39 cases of murder, two of ‘honour’
killing, 52 of abduction/kidnapping and 18 of domestic violence.The figures are
part of a report yet to be published.
“The state, honourable judiciary, free media, the women’s rights and human
rights organisations and common citizens must know that 1384 daughters of
Pakistan were murdered, 928 were raped, 683 committed suicide and 604 were
killed in the name of ‘honour’ in year 2009,” said Ms Hadi.
“With extreme pain and anguish, we express our outrage and resentment over this
state of affairs where women and girls are being murdered, kidnapped and
subjected to various forms of violence, including killings in the name of
‘honour’, suicides, acid throwing and stove-burning with shameless impunity and
the state functionaries are doing nothing except lip-service before TV cameras
and that too only in some high-profile cases,” she said.
Having no expectations from the interior ministry or provincial governments,
she said she would urge the Ministry of Women’s Development and Women’s
Parliamentary Caucus headed by the Speaker of National Assembly and the
National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) headed by a renowned women’s
rights activist to do something about this horrible situation.
The number and percentage of the cases of abduction and kidnapping in 2009 are
-- 1987 (23.25pc), murder 1384 (16.9pc), rape/gang-rape 928 (10.86pc), suicide
683 (7.99pc) and ‘honour’ killing 604 (7.07pc) followed by cases of sexual
assault 274 (3.21pc), stove burning 50 (0.58pc), acid throwing 27 (0.60pc) and
offences of miscellaneous nature around (23.13pc). Around 1,977 cases of
violence were of miscellaneous nature such as vanni/swara, custodial violence,
torture, trafficking, child marriages, incest, threat to violence, sexual
harassment, attempted murder, suicide and rape.
The highest increase in the number of reported cases i.e. from 281 in 2008 to
608 in 2009 was in domestic violence. However, the reported murder incidents
decreased from 1,422 in 2008 to 1,384 in 2009.
Of the 5,722 incidents of violence in 35 districts of Pubjab, there were 1698
cases of abduction/kidnapping, 752 cases of murder, 245 of ‘honour’ killing,
786 of rape/gang rape, 448 of suicide, 227 of sexual assault, 33 of stove
burning, 42 of acid throwing, and 1220 cases of miscellaneous nature.
Of the 1,762 incidents reported from 23 districts of Sindh, 288 were of murder
(one of the highest ratio of crime against women reported from the province),
284 of ‘honour’ killing, 160 of abduction/kidnapping, 176 of suicide, 122 of
rape/gang rape, 122 of domestic violence, 44 of sexual assault, 10 of stove
burning, 9 of acid throwing and 535 of miscellaneous nature.
Similarly, of the 237 incidents of violence in 28 districts of Balochastan, 59
were of ‘honour’ killing, 39 of murder, 13 of abduction/kidnapping, 4 of
rape/gang-rape, 10 of suicide, one of stove burning and 22 of miscellaneous
nature.
Courtesy:
Dawn 2 February 2010