PESHAWAR, May 12 (IPS) - In a remote valley that
rises high in the Hindu Kush mountains, a jirga
(grand council of village elders) has decided
that anybody reporting so-called ’honour’
killings or filing a police complaint must also
be put to death.
The jirga, held in Nehag Dara in the Upper Dir
district three weeks ago, not only endorsed the
centuries-old custom of putting to death a woman
that the family considers dishonourable, but
declared that those responsible were not liable
for punishment.
Political parties and non-government
organisations (NGOs) have slammed the
controversial decree. At a meeting on Apr 30,
organised by Aurat Foundation, an NGO working
with women, they approved a resolution demanding
that the federal, provincial and district
governments take strict action against jirga
members.
’’We strongly condemn the jirga’s decision and
ask the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo
motu action against the members of the so-called
jirga," the joint resolution stated. A second
jirga in Nehag Dara on Apr. 28 had again declared
honour killings permissible.
Crimes of honour are a pre-Islamic practice
deeply rooted in the tribal societies of the
North West Frontier Province (NWFP) where Upper
Dir is located, Balochistan province, as well as
those of Sindh and Punjab where they are called
“karo kari” (literally black man and black woman).
In these rigidly patriarchal communities, wives,
daughters, sisters and mothers are killed for the
least sexual indiscretion and upon the slightest
suspicion of adultery.
Last year, relatives in Dir killed Zubaida Bibi,
a councillor, and her daughter because she
allegedly brought a bad name upon the family. The
police arrested the main accused in the first
information report (FIR), but he was soon
released.
’’The menace is so deep-rooted in society that
campaigns, such as holding seminars and
workshops, have made no difference at all,’’
lamented Yasmin Begum of Shirkat Gah,
The federal government has asked the NWFP
government to order an inquiry into the jirga
verdict.
According to the independent Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), 1,339 cases of
honour killings were registered between 1998 and
2002. Of these, 659 killed were married women and
the remaining were single. These were only the
reported cases; most go unreported.
The perpetrators included brothers, husbands,
fathers, sons, in-laws, the HRCP said. Of these,
only 202 were arrested. The rest went scot-free.
Murders in the name of honour fall under the
purview of the customary ’qisas and diyat’ law.
Riddled with flaws, it makes prosecution
extremely difficult.
Activists have been urging the government to
reform the law but a bill seeking to bolster
secular law against honour killings, presented in
parliament last year, was defeated as un-Islamic.
“Drastic changes are needed,” Rakshanda Naz,
resident director of Aurat Foundation told IPS.
"The social mind-set, specially the attitude of
the courts, needs to change. Often the courts
adopt a lenient view towards an accused on the
grounds of “grave and sudden provocation” which
is nowhere in the law," she added.
Sections of the qisas and diyat law work to the
advantage of the accused in the trial and
appellate stages.
Under section 309 of the law, an adult wali
(legal heir) of a deceased could use his right of
qisas (to forgive the accused). Similarly, under
section 310, the offence of murder is made a
compoundable offence and any heir of a deceased
could forgive an accused by compounding his right
of qisas after receiving compensation.
Since in most honour-related murders, either a
husband or parents are the heirs of the slain
woman and as the murder takes place in connivance
with almost all the family members, they prefer
to waive their right of qisas and pardon the
accused.
Each time, the judicial response has appeared to
violate the basic principles of justice,
activists observed.
Uzma Mehboob, a women’s rights activist, said no
FIR was registered in a recent case in a remote
hamlet in NWFP’s Mardan district where a powerful
landowner sprayed his daughter and driver, who
had eloped together, with bullets.
A month ago, the Peshawar High Court set aside
the death penalty awarded to Gul Zaman for the
murder of his wife and three daughters for
venturing out of their house without his
permission. A local judge had convicted Zaman on
Jan 31, 2005. But the high court set him free
after his three sons and a daughter, who were
also the legal heirs of the deceased, forgave
their father.
The same court commuted the death sentence of
Wakeel Saeed to seven-years imprisonment for the
murder of his daughter, and a cleric in the local
mosque in 2002. His counsel argued that under
section 306 of the qisas and diyat law, an
offender could not be sentenced to death for
killing his child.
Naeema Kishwar, member of the NWFP Assembly from
the Jamiat Ulemai Islam (a religious party), is
blunt in her criticism. ’’It’s un-Islamic to kill
a woman or man in the name of honour. We will
fight the dirty tradition,’’ she told IPS.
Zahira Khattak, vice president of the Awami
National Party, has warned her partymen that they
would be expelled if found to be involved in
honour crimes. But the ultimate responsibility
lies with the government, she warned. "The
government has so far utterly failed to apply
brakes on it (the custom)," she observed.