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

7. Conclusion and Main Findings
It is evident from this research that the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act
2004 has not had the desired impact. Nevertheless, one cannot say that it
has had no effect at all. The positive and negative impacts of the law are
discussed below.
The law has definitely not put an end to honour killings, nor can it be
seen to have drastically reduced it. In fact, according to sections of the
community, incidence has actually increased instead of decreasing. The
community and parts of civil society remain ignorant about the law and
its substance, thereby immediately reducing its potential impact. The
motives behind honour killings remain the same pre-2004 to post–2004.
In fact, seemingly, there has been an increase in the use of the pretext of
honour killings because of some exemptions that are available under the
honour killing law. This is because the case law has now started using
honour killings as a mitigating factor for punishments awarded, thereby
one can get a minimum sentence due to the discretion of the court.
There are some positive factors too. While the law may not have had the
immediate effect of making the community aware of the evils of this
tradition, nor of actually stopping the practice, it has resulted in the issue
being taken out from the home, brought into the public realm and onto the
front page of the main news. Increasing reporting of honour killings puts
the spotlight on this social evil, stating it to be wrong and tragic. This has
resulted in creating in the community, to some extent, albeit a small but
definite attitudinal change that can be seen in the growing intolerance to
such murders. On the national and international level it is understood that
these crimes are wrong and are heinous in nature. The mindset is slowly
changing to consider honour killings to be wrong. This attitude needs to
sink deeper in the mind of the community before any social change can
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