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

this issue has resulted in a spill over of ‘hounor’ killings to a number of
foreign countries primarily through Pakistani immigrant communities.
In 2004, when after persistent efforts of women’s rights organizations and
committed activists, along with active women in political parties, some
legal amendments were made to Pakistan Penal Code to address the issue
of ‘honour’ crimes through an act of Parliament, it turned out to be a
‘victory’ more shrouded in disappointment than joy. Besides jubilant
official claims of making headway in resolving the issue, the response of
civil society organizations was straightforward: “the law has no teeth – it
will be ineffective”. Since, Shahla Zia from Aurat Foundation was the
prime architect of the legislative bill which was handed over to the
federal women’s ministry for legislative action, and she along with some
senior members of the Legislative Watch Group in Islamabad, Tahira
Abdullah, Sabira Qureshi, Nasreen Azhar and myself were participants to
the negotiations with the ministry in 2004, it became clear, as well as
painful for us to know that despite our protest and reservations, the
original bill prepared by Shahla Zia was being severely ‘mutilated’ with
the final outcome that its most vital clauses were dropped when it was
passed by the National Assembly.
The bill was passed in December 2004, and became a law in January
2005. However, as the above-quoted statistics indicate, there was no letup
in the incidents of ‘honour’ killings during the following years. Since,
we were aware of the presence of serious loopholes in the law, it did not
come as a surprise. But, there could have been other factors, e.g. what
does our case law say about ‘honour’ killings’; how were the law or the
relevant provisions in the PPC received by the police, judiciary and legal
community and; what were community perceptions towards the offence
and any legal remedy to it. These were broad questions. Therefore, it was
felt that a pilot study was required to analyze ground situation to ascertain
the level of understanding on the new law by different stakeholders and
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