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

court settlement is preferred. Such matters are out of the hands of the
police as it is.
The police also have a lack of funds and personnel to deal with these
cases. They are often deployed for other priorities, e.g. to combat
terrorism or for VIP duty. There is a shortage of staff and personnel with
the relevant expertise to deal with such cases. Often when life threats to
victims are reported, the police may not have the staff or facilities to be
able to get there in time to prevent the crime. Nor do they have the
capacity to effectively provide the necessary protection for potential
victims.
The police can, and also does, play an extremely negative role in some
cases. For example, even when honour killings are reported to the police,
by using technical language and entries, they manage to avoid the filing
of the case as an honour killing. The cases are entered as murder and
deliberately misrepresented, as are other sexual offences, and also cases
involving land or inheritance matters. The words ‘honour killing’ are
never actually used, which means that any positive aspect of the 2004
legislation is avoided such as the restrictions on compromise etc. The
police is also known to take bribes to change the crime from honour
killing to anything else. The law also states that any law under the
‘pretext’ of honour should fall under this legislation, however, this is not
followed.
The FIR and investigation are vital in any criminal case, especially
honour killings. If these are not done properly, the entire case collapses.
Incomplete or wrong FIRs and inept investigations are common, and are
largely responsible for the low rate of convictions. They can be blamed
on the lack of capacity of the police, but are also deliberately done to
weaken the case and favour the perpetrator.
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