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Murder, not honour

Moonlight

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ANOTHER Oscar nod for Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy; another moment of introspection for Pakistan. Four years ago, Chinoy’s award-winning documentary on acid attacks inspired parliamentary and media debate on the issue and revived activism against the heinous practice. It also sparked new conversations about the growing role of Pakistani women as national icons, and the fragility of our national identity, which takes criticism of even the most heinous practices to be a form of treachery if it is for a Western audience.

Now A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness has stirred a fresh debate. Chinoy’s film about a rare survivor of an ‘honour’ killing was nominated last week. While congratulating the filmmaker, the prime minister vowed to do no less than eradicate the ‘evil’ practice. If Chinoy goes on to win the award, he may have to, at a minimum, raise the issue in a parliamentary session.

I have not yet seen the film, but there can be no doubt about the urgency of its subject matter. The Aurat Foundation estimates that around 1,000 women in Pakistan are killed annually in the name of ‘honour’. These numbers are likely underestimates. And they are rising. According to the Human Rights Commission, the number of ‘honour’ killings jumped 15pc between 2013 and 2014, when 1,005 cases were reported. Men are also victims of ‘honour’ killing, but the incidence of this is far less frequent.

Attitudes towards ‘honour’ killings stubbornly persist.
The increase in the number of ‘honour’ killings reflects an improvement in reporting as national and regional media outlets infiltrate even the most remote rural areas of Pakistan, and stringers are increasingly aware of women’s rights. But it also reflects the changing times.

Pakistani women are more educated, have greater exposure to global political and cultural norms, and increased access to technology, including mobile phones. Formerly rural areas are becoming urbanised, leading to greater flows of people and goods through once isolated areas. Women in cities are increasingly working outside the home. These societal changes mean that women have wider networks of acquaintances, independent resources, opportunities to make choices — and so more ways to offend their families’ ‘honour’.

Despite the rapid social transition, attitudes towards ‘honour’ killings — including the widespread notion that the practice is part of our culture — stubbornly persist. We are simply not as alarmed as we should be by the level of support for the practice. According to a 2013 Pew Research Centre poll, 84pc of Pakistanis wanted Sharia law as the country’s official law, and 89pc among that percentage said that adulterers should be stoned to death.

My family recently helped a man locate his daughter after she eloped. He explained that he was under great pressure to take action against his daughter to defend his ‘honour’. Other men in his village warned him that he would be cut off from the community, his family members ostracised and denied access to communal resources if he didn’t take serious action. No one wanted their daughters getting the wrong ideas about what was permissible if his was able to get away with an elopement.

If the prime minister wants to eradicate ‘honour’ killings, these are the attitudes he must confront. A good start would be to stop referring to the practice as ‘honour’ killing and start calling it murder. Under our penal code, the crime is treated as a murder, but in everyday practice, moral distinctions are drawn, against which quotation marks are a poor defence. Changing the language around an issue can help to change attitudes as those who are now esteemed for upholding their family or community’s honour would be reframed as base murderers.

By talking about murder, we can also shift the conversation about ‘honour’ killings away from an outdated and inappropriate one about indigenous values to a more pragmatic one about the failings of civilian law-enforcement and our criminal justice system. The murder of women on supposedly moral grounds continues because punitive action against their killers has been weak. Police fail to apprehend killers — and sometimes even collude with them — and enable parallel forms of justice, like jirgas. They also fail to check the flow of guns and acid used to attack women. Courts, meanwhile, fail to prosecute killers for lack of evidence, or as laws that allow for easy pardons see many going free.

One hopes Chinoy’s nomination will get the Anti-Honour Killing Laws (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2015 back in parliament. The bill, which lapsed in October, seeks amendments to the Pakistan Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to remove loopholes that allow killers to get off scot-free. But new laws can only do so much in the face of old ideas. To really eradicate the practice, we have to redefine our notions of what is honourable.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2016.

@Zibago @Mr.Meap @DesertFox97 @MaarKhoor
 
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There is no honor in killing but we have strong traditional system which not only honor woman but also protects them. problem is that world is changing and many societies can't coup with the changing environment unfortunately our rural areas, villages among them. Our old system is perfect, we have lowest crime rate against woman as compared to so called developed nations but we have to modernized it for the changing environment. Lady Sharmeen done a great job but these type of so called savior ladies always shows their biases by only amplifying the extreme and negative sides.
 
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Women like sharmeen and malala tries to cash on the negative sides of Pakistan society which are present in every society, They campaign when some girls aren't allowed to get higher education but what about the west, teenage girls who are going in high numbers into **** industry and prostitution, their is high number of teenage abortions in the west.
What an irony it is when Malala stands in US(country which never had women president) and say that women are opressed in Pakistan(first muslim country to have women PM), someone should bring malala to Khyber medial college in peshawar show her how much women doctors we have.
 
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There is no honor in killing but we have strong traditional system which not only honor woman but also protects them. problem is that world is changing and many societies can't coup with the changing environment unfortunately our rural areas, villages among them. Our old system is perfect, we have lowest crime rate against woman as compared to so called developed nations but we have to modernized it for the changing environment. Lady Sharmeen done a great job but these type of so called savior ladies always shows their biases by only amplifying the extreme and negative sides.
Lady Sharmeen is trying to please west and old way of doing that is to bash Islam and Pakistan. As for honor killings that has to be condemned but it's impossible to eliminate unless we address issue of running away from homes. Still honor killing is not allowed. Their us no such thing in Islam.
 
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Lady Sharmeen is trying to please west and old way of doing that is to bash Islam and Pakistan. As for honor killings that has to be condemned but it's impossible to eliminate unless we address issue of running away from homes. Still honor killing is not allowed. Their us no such thing in Islam.
I havent seen Sharmeen saying this is something from Islam. These practices are being done in Pakistan, its better to confront them and stand up against them. We will have all other days to worry about our outlook in west.

Women like sharmeen and malala tries to cash on the negative sides of Pakistan society which are present in every society, They campaign when some girls aren't allowed to get higher education but what about the west, teenage girls who are going in high numbers into **** industry and prostitution, their is high number of teenage abortions in the west.
What an irony it is when Malala stands in US(country which never had women president) and say that women are opressed in Pakistan(first muslim country to have women PM), someone should bring malala to Khyber medial college in peshawar show her how much women doctors we have.
Face what is wrong with Pakistan, what happens in US stays in US. You haven't seen the urban Punjab and how women are treated even there and you are talking about Khyber.
 
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Lady Sharmeen is trying to please west and old way of doing that is to bash Islam and Pakistan. As for honor killings that has to be condemned but it's impossible to eliminate unless we address issue of running away from homes. Still honor killing is not allowed. Their us no such thing in Islam.
Running away and killing in the name of honor both wrong but my question is why adult girls runaway ? because parents refuse to give them the right which Islam given them to choose and select their life partner, even in the life time of Rasool Allah (PBUH) girls / women allowed to choose their life partners, i have many examples but quoting one When Hazrat Khadija R.A purposes Rasool Allah (PBUH) and he accept the proposal. This proves girls / women not only allowed to interact men but have rights to do business independently and choose their life partner.
 
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Lady Sharmeen is trying to please west and old way of doing that is to bash Islam and Pakistan. As for honor killings that has to be condemned but it's impossible to eliminate unless we address issue of running away from homes. Still honor killing is not allowed. Their us no such thing in Islam.

Respected Sir, Yes, the image of Pakistan is being presented negatively. Yes west is laughing on east after watching documentaries of the barbaric rules of east. She did not talk about Islam, but the culture. We can't bury our heads into sand and believe everything is fine. All these issues completely need to be highlighted. Perhaps she's doing this with good intention. It's a very serious issue, but our parliamentarians don't talk on this issue. Many of them actually believe in this practice and are involved in it. So what should we do? All naysayers don't even pay the coin of attention to evil of the society and when someone stands up and raises the issue, we start to oppose them. These issues need to be addressed.
 
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Running away and killing in the name of honor both wrong but my question is why adult girls runaway ? because parents refuse to give them the right which Islam given them to choose and select their life partner, even in the life time of Rasool Allah (PBUH) girls / women allowed to choose their life partners, i have many examples but quoting one When Hazrat Khadija R.A purposes Rasool Allah (PBUH) and he accept the proposal. This proves girls / women not only allowed to interact men but have rights to do business independently and choose their life partner.

Most of the problems we have today are because of the distance we have created with Quran and Islam. Islam is the first religion to officially gives women their rights.
 
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Women like sharmeen and malala tries to cash on the negative sides of Pakistan society which are present in every society, They campaign when some girls aren't allowed to get higher education but what about the west, teenage girls who are going in high numbers into **** industry and prostitution, their is high number of teenage abortions in the west.
What an irony it is when Malala stands in US(country which never had women president) and say that women are opressed in Pakistan(first muslim country to have women PM), someone should bring malala to Khyber medial college in peshawar show her how much women doctors we have.

So when are you coming out with your friends to stand against this evil in society?
 
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Women like sharmeen and malala tries to cash on the negative sides of Pakistan society which are present in every society, They campaign when some girls aren't allowed to get higher education but what about the west, teenage girls who are going in high numbers into **** industry and prostitution, their is high number of teenage abortions in the west.
What an irony it is when Malala stands in US(country which never had women president) and say that women are opressed in Pakistan(first muslim country to have women PM), someone should bring malala to Khyber medial college in peshawar show her how much women doctors we have.

Negative side of our society is the problem.
And first step for solution of any problem is its recognition. You cannot solve any problem without recognising it.
 
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Respected Sir, Yes, the image of Pakistan is being presented negatively. Yes west is laughing on east after watching documentaries of the barbaric rules of east. She did not talk about Islam, but the culture. We can't bury our heads into sand and believe everything is fine. All these issues completely need to be highlighted. Perhaps she's doing this with good intention. It's a very serious issue, but our parliamentarians don't talk on this issue. Many of them actually believe in this practice and are involved in it. So what should we do? All naysayers don't even pay the coin of attention to evil of the society and when someone stands up and raises the issue, we start to oppose them. These issues need to be addressed.

What he is trying to say that "Larkiyon ko ghar se ni bhagna chahiye" :p:

However, The honor killing is the part of south Asian dark culture, we should open our mind q k kisi ki behn ko ghumate hue sharam aur ghairat ni aati pr jb khud ki behn kisi k sath ghoome to ghairat ka samandar aa jata hai:pakistan:
 
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What he is trying to say that "Larkiyon ko ghar se ni bhagna chahiye" :p:

However, The honor killing is the part of south Asian dark culture, we should open our mind q k kisi ki behn ko ghumate hue sharam aur ghairat ni aati pr jb khud ki behn kisi k sath ghoome to ghairat ka samandar aa jata hai:pakistan:

Sahy hai nahi bhagna chiye. Agree! Liken reason pe Kon focus kare ga? Sirf problem pe he shor Hota Raha to MashAllah Hume 3rd world country Ke bhi last rank pe hon ge. Solution is needed sir.
Most of the time honor killing is to cover up the sins of the men.
 
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Running away and killing in the name of honor both wrong but my question is why adult girls runaway ? because parents refuse to give them the right which Islam given them to choose and select their life partner, even in the life time of Rasool Allah (PBUH) girls / women allowed to choose their life partners, i have many examples but quoting one When Hazrat Khadija R.A purposes Rasool Allah (PBUH) and he accept the proposal. This proves girls / women not only allowed to interact men but have rights to do business independently and choose their life partner.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There is no marriage except with a guardian.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (1101); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Irwa’ al-Ghaleel(1893).

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Any woman who gets married without the permission of her guardian, her marriage is invalid, her marriage is invalid, her marriage is invalid.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (1102), classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Irwa’ al-Ghaleel (1840).

@Ammara Chaudhry
 
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If we are worried about image of Pakistan, why not to solve these issues at first place?
Fake postive image building is not viable solution. Accept these issues and try to solve them. Come up
With your chest out and address the world with your head straight.
 
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Sahy hai nahi bhagna chiye. Agree! Liken reason pe Kon focus kare ga? Sirf problem pe he shor Hota Raha to MashAllah Hume 3rd world country Ke bhi last rank pe hon ge. Solution is needed sir.
Most of the time honor killing is to cover up the sins of the men.

thats what I was saying, Men need to lower their gaze before asking their women to do so.
 
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