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PAKISTAN - WOMAN LAWYER, RIGHTS
ACTIVIST THREATENED FOR PURSUING HONOR KILLINGS OF TWO WOMEN
9 June 2014 - The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has
received information that the life of a lady lawyer and human rights defender
is under threat for pursuing the murder case of two women who were killed in
the name of honour. The murderers quickly tried to bury the bodies claiming
that they both committed suicide after the exposure of their illicit relations.
The local politicians from the ruling party used high police officials to stop
the court order of the exhumation of the bodies. The lawyer was threatened to
keep away from the case.
The killers have made several attacks on the lawyer's chambers and threatened
that if she pursues the case she and her children will not be spared. The
killers told her that killing one more woman would not increase the sentence
for killing two already. The police and courts have ignored the threats to the
lawyer.
CASE NARRATIVE:
Ms. Munaza Bukhari, advocate and prominent human rights defender of Pakpattan,
Punjab province, is under threat of death by the alleged killers of the two
women who were killed on the pretext of honour on the accusation of having
illicit relationships out of wedlock. The government, courts and police have
been informed, but it looks as if the authorities are biding their time and
waiting for the attempt to kill her. This is similar to the case of Mr. Rashid
Rehman, a human rights defender fighting the case of a professor who was
accused of Blasphemy. He was shot dead in his chambers. Mr. Rehman had received
threats to his life in a court room before the judge. The judge and the
authorities ignored the threats.
Whenever there has hearing of the case in different courts, Ms. Bukhari was
threatened in the court premises themselves, that she would be killed in the
same manner as the two women. On more than three occasions the alleged killers
attacked her chambers and boasted that they were not afraid as the sentence for
three women would be the same as that for killing two.
The details of the case which resulted in the threats to her life are as
follows:
On 24 February, two young women Ms. Parveen Bibi, 26, and Ms. Shakeela, 17,
resident of Chak No. 77/D, Malka Hans, district Pakpattan, Punjab were
allegedly poisoned to death on the pretext of hounor killing. They were
suspected of having illicit relations out of their marriage.
Ms. Parveen Bibi, the mother of three children, was married to Mansab Ali six
years ago while the other woman Ms. Shakeela was the sister of Mansab Ali and
married to her cousin just eight months earlier. The husband of Bibi and the
closed relatives of the deceased women claim that both the women were having
illicit relations with two men, causing shame for the family honour, and at the
disclosure of their illicit relations and accusation; they confessed and then
committed suicide because of the shame.
However the neighbors and the local community of the same village believe that
Mansab Ali, in connivance with other family elders killed his wife and sister
by administering them poisonous pills as they doubted their honour. They also
informed the police about the death of two women in mysterious circumstances.
The family members of the deceased women were in a rush to bury them in the
village graveyard silently but the news of alleged murder spread out. The
Deputy Superintendent of Police, Muhammad Akram rushed to the village along
with the Station House Officer (SHO) of Malka Hans and started inquiring about
the incident. During the initial inquiry and investigation of the police the
accused husband, Mansab Ali, and other family members were unable to provide
satisfactory reason and cause of death. On the suspicious grounds, the police
stopped the burial without postmortem.
When the accused and his family felt that the police were not satisfied with
the answers provided they panicked. The husband, along with other family
members, approached the local politicians from the ruling party, the Pakistan
Muslim League (N) and some landlords of the area to seek help against the
police interference into the matter. The local politicians used their influence
and stopped police to further investigate. Later, the police let the family to
bury both women without a postmortem.
Meanwhile, after the burial, on the basis of having strong reason of suspicious
death of the women, Ms. Munaza Bokhari, the lawyer, intervened and demanded the
exhumation of bodies. On the fear of being exposed, the Malka Hans police reported
the matter in their daily register on 27th Feb, three days after the murder.
On March 2, Ms. Munaza Bokhari, herself became the complainant and filed a writ
petition before the court of local Magistrate Mazhar Fareed for exhuming the
bodies and registration of an FIR against the alleged killers. The complainant
pleaded to the Magistrate and sought permission for the exhumation of the
bodies as she believed that the Deputy Superintendant of Police, Muhammad Ikram
and former Station House Officer of the Malka Hans police station, Ashfaq
Husain were concealing facts by converting the double murder into suicide.
Interestingly, later the the police, just to save itself, also filed a writ
petition at the local court for a post-mortem of the bodies.
On 8 March, the court of Magistrate accepted the plea and gave the orders for
opening up of the graves on 13 April. In the meantime, the police and legal
heirs of the two deceased women forced the court that in Islam exhumation of
the graves of women is prohibited therefore stopped the exhumation. The lawyer,
Ms. Bukhari, after observing the pressure from the politician of the ruling
party and the police tilt towards the perpetrators, also filed a petition
before the Session Court of Additional Judge Mr. Bashir Choudry, for the
exhumation of the bodies to get the cause of the death. The Additional Sessions
Court also ordered for exhumation of the graves and fixed the date on April 22
for excavation of the graves. On the date of exhumation all arrangements were made
and the magistrate and other court staff and technicians from the government
were present at the graves. However, just before the exhumation, the main
accused person, Mansab Ali and 19 others filed a petition before the bench of
Justice Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah of the Lahore High Court to grant a stay
order against the exhumation of the graves. The court without hearing the point
of view of other party immediately granted the stay order and the exhumation
was stopped until the vacation of the stay order. The High Court single Bench
fixed the date of next hearing on April 28, but on the date judge postponed the
next hearing for left over, which means when there would be time available from
the court's 'cause list' the case would be heard.
The lawyer, Ms. Munaza Bukhari, is being followed and whenever she comes in
contact with killers they threaten her that if she comes to the next hearing
she would be killed.
The alleged killers have no fear of the law and they know how to manipulate
with courts and police. They have not only used the police but also obtained
help from the High Court as it is commonly known that judges are biased against
women in general. Therefore it is an easy matter to get relief from the courts
by taking the shelter behind Islam.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The case of Ms. Munaza Bukhari, advocate, is no different from the case of Mr.
Rashid Rehman, the lawyer and prominent human rights defender, who was gunned
down by unknown persons at his chambers at 8.45 p.m. He had been receiving
death threats from the Muslim fundamentalists since February. In the month of
April he was threatened in court during the proceedings before the judge by a
lawyer, Zulfiqar Sindhu and two other complainants and was warned that from the
next hearing he should not defend a Muslim lecturer of Bahawalpur University in
a case of Blasphemy. Sindhu actually stated before the judge that Mr. Rehman
would be eliminated. The presiding judge remained silent and took no notice of
the threats by the bigots who were forcing the judge to sentence the lecturer
to death.
The judge of the anti terrorist court totally ignored the threats given from
the lawyer before him, the same attitude was shown by the local authorities and
police that allowed the killers the freedom to kill in the name of Islam.
In the case of Rashid Rehman the killers knew how to get impunity from courts,
police and authorities and they were successful. Until now no one has been
arrested and even the Multan district bar association has not taken any action
against the lawyer who threatened to kill Rehman before the judge.