Honor Killing Claims Two Lives

Imran Takkar

Peshawar: 24-year-old brother (M) killed his 20-year-old sister (K) and her 18-year-old friend (A) together in the house in the name of honor in village Batakada in Swabi in the surrounding of Police Station Topi.

Soon after the incident the local police took the dead bodies into custody and shifted them to the local hospital for post-mortem.

While according to police sources, raids were started to arrest the accused and in no time, the 24-year-old accused (M) was arrested. While further investigation was also started.

This is the second case of honor killing from Swabi district in the last few months. Few months ago the parents allegedly killed their young daughter by giving her poison in Swabi Yar Hussain villagr Sard Cheena. According to the local police, the parents tried to make the incident a suicide, but the police took action and detained the parents and the alleged friend of the deceased woman, which confirmed by the accused the honor killing not a suicide.

Same in the last week, a man allegedly threw acid on his ex-wife in an ‘honor’ attack, severely burning various parts of her body in the capital city Peshawar. The attack reportedly occurred because the woman had divorced her first husband and remarried. The ex-husband, carried out this heinous act with the name of honour.

According to the data of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) report, 226 women were killed in the name of honor in the country in 2023.

While according to newspaper reports according to data collected by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on honor killings and Karukari incidents in the four years between 2018-22, about 1,961 incidents were publicly reported in which 2,537 people were victims. .

Out of which 858 were men, while twice that number were 1679 women. Children under the age of 18 are also among the dead.

Thus, according to non-governmental organizations, many cases of honor killings are either not reported or are reported as suicides.

Saeed Usman, Advocate at the Peshawar High Court, commented on honor killings, said that honor killing is a heinous act and violation of fundamental human rights. These actions are rooted in cultural traditions that are incompatible with the principles of justice and equality under the law.

From a legal point of view, it is very important to deal with cases of honor killings with the full force of the law.

Perpetrators must be prosecuted without leniency, and legal defenses must have no tolerance for cultural justifications.