'Honour Killings' in Pakistan and Compliance of ... - Aurat Foundation

monitor women’s movements and kill them if they defied the social
order 31 .
Post-independence, much of the debate related to the issue of Islamisation
of the laws, specifically the criminal law relating to murder and hurt, 32
which directly relates to the prosecution of honour killings. The Qisas and
Diyat Ordinance was promulgated to address the supposedly anti-Islamic
elements of criminal law. The law made a number of changes, as
summarised by Warraich 33 , followed by a discussion based on the effects
of these changes.
Firstly all cases of death at the hands of a person were now termed as one
of four categories of ‘murder,’ removing all previous categories e.g.
manslaughter. Secondly, sentences were given not on the basis of the
intensity or facts of the crime but on the form of proof of murder and the
relationship of the offender to the deceased. There are different
requirements for the proof for qisas (retribution i.e. death sentence) i.e.
full confession to the satisfaction of the court or requisite witness. If these
requirements are not fulfilled, the accused will be liable for sentencing
under tazir (sentence of imprisonment or death sentence under normal
law). Certain relatives were already exempted by the law as being only
liable for diyat (giving compensation), but with the court’s discretion to
impose a maximum sentence of fourteen years of imprisonment. Thirdly,
the law stated that qisas shall not be enforceable where, according to the
injunctions of Islam, it is not applicable. Finally, the law now formally
allowed the heirs of the murder victim or the victim of any form of bodily
31 ‘Honour Killings and the Law in Pakistan’, Sohail Akbar Warraich, ‘Honour’ Crimes,
Paradigms, And Violence Against Women, Edited by Lynn Welchman, Sara Hossain,
Oxford University Press, 2005
32 Gul Hassan judgment
33
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