Re: ► Honour killing: Kidnapped women say tribal elders want to kill them ◄
Karo-kari
Most karo kari cases are committed by a close relative - father, brother, son, or husband of the woman. Often, the victims are the most vulnerable members of the family or community. In either case, if and when the case reaches a court of law, the victim's family may 'pardon' the murderer (who may well be one of them), or be pressurised to accept diyat (financial compensation). The murderer then goes free. [13]
Once such a pardon has been secured, the state has no further writ on the matter although often the killers are relatives of the victim. Human rights agencies in Pakistan have repeatedly emphasized that women falling prey to karo-kari were usually those wanting to marry of their own will. In many cases, the victims held properties that the male members of their families did not wish to lose if the women chose to marry outside the family. More often than not, the karo-kari murder relates to inheritance problems, feud-settling, or to get rid of the wife, for instance in order to remarry.[14]
Over 4,000 people have been murdered by this practice in Pakistan over the six years 1998-2004. Of the victims, almost 2,700 were women and just over 1,300 were men,; 3,451 cases came before the courts. The highest rate of the practice of Karo-kari were in Punjab, followed by the Sindh province. Lesser number of cases have also been reported in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and in Balochistan.[15] More recently in 2005, the average annual number of karo kari for the whole nation ran up to more than 10,000 per year. Pakistan's Human Rights Commission reported that in 2010 there 791 honor killings in the country.[16] [17]
This pattern of murder has been resisted by Human Rights activists like Aitzaz Ahsan, Ayaz Latif Palijo, Asma Jahangir, Hina Jilani and Shahnaz Bukhari.[18][19][20][21][22]
Karo-Kari is supposed to be prosecuted as ordinary murder, but in practice, police and prosecutors often ignore it.[23] Often a man must simply claim the killing was for his honour and he will go free. Nilofar Bakhtiar, advisor to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, stated that in 2003, as many as 1,261 women were murdered in honour killings.[24] On December 8, 2004, under international and domestic pressure, Pakistan enacted a law that made honour killings punishable by a prison term of seven years, or by the death penalty in the most extreme cases.[25] Women and human rights organizations were, however, wary of this law, as it stops short of outlawing the practice of allowing killers to buy their freedom by paying compensation to the victim's relatives. Seeing as in most cases, it is the victim's immediate relatives, who are the killers, inherently the new law is just eyewash. It did not alter the provisions, whereby the accused could negotiate pardon with the victim's family under the Islamic provisions. Former judge Nasira Javed Iqbal told IRIN the bill allowed close relatives of the deceased to escape punishment with ease.[26] In March 2005 the Pakistani parliament rejected a bill, which sought to strengthen the law against the practice of honour killing declaring it to be un-Islamic.[27] However, the bill was brought up again, and in November 2006, it passed.[28] However, it is doubtful that the law would actually help women in presence of the loopholes of the amendment.[29]
Every year in Pakistan hundreds of women of all ages and in all parts of the country, are reported killed in the name of honour.[30] Many more cases go unreported. Almost all go unpunished.[31] Although women and human rights organizations, activists and moderates have called for seriousness and implementation from the authorities when dealing with the issue of honour killings, these continue to be opposed by hardline religious and conservative opposition in parliament, who claim the traditions serve to protect society from moral transgression namely adultery and amendments or repeal are seen as unislamic.[32]
This is the brutal cultural tradition Sindh!
how freakin small minded which person male/female would want to be kidnapped return and be killed?