Mohammad Nafees
Unlike terrorism, honor killing is committed without discrimination against any religion, caste, creed, and ethnicity. It has its own dynamics, making irrelevant all other considerations. For example, of the 209 women killed in Pakistan in 2018 in the name of honor, 47 were killed by close relatives such as fathers, brothers, and even mothers. The perpetrators of the crime were Muslims, and so were their killers.
Much of the honor killing in Pakistan is committed not as much by blood relations as by close relatives. Of all the honor killings held in Pakistan in 2018, 54% were carried out by close relatives and only 19% by blood relations. Among the close relatives, the highest number of crimes was committed by husbands. Sense of honor that trigger killing caught up equally with uncles, cousins, nephews, brothers-in-law, and fathers-in-law, as it had with parents and siblings.
According to available data some 55 percent of crimes against women in Pakistan and 45 percent in India were committed by close relatives, often blood relations. Women in both countries had to experience seeing their protectors turning predators. Honor killing, sexual assault, domestic violence, and matrimonial dispute are some of the common crimes women face in both countries.
As many as 597 persons fell victim to any of these crimes in all regions of Pakistan in 2018. Punjab had the highest number of victims (342) followed by Sindh, KP, Balochistan, Islamabad, FATA, and AJK. Worth noting is the data on FATA that showed zero occurrence of sexual assault and matrimonial disputes. Gender distribution of these crimes showed that females suffered the highest rate of these crimes (195 fatalities and 99 injuries) followed by children (infant to teenage) with 69 fatalities and 109 injuries, and male victims were (115 and 12). Majority of male victims also became target of honor killings and domestic violence
Linked to the sexual attraction for the opposite sex, honor killing and sexual assaults belie the feelings of love and respect. It is as much a paradox to find honor in killing as it is to find contentment in sexual assault.
Females are not the only victims. A large number of males also fall prey to the crime. Out of 222 casualties of honor killings that I recorded in 2018, 97 were of men’s – more than 40% of the total victims. This data reflects only a fraction of “honor killing” in Pakistan because there is no reliable source from where complete and reliable data can be accessed. The website of the Punjab Police shows 244 fatalities from honor killings in the province, while the website of the Sindh Police shows 108 fatalities for the year 2018. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has no database for this crime, reflecting an apathy on the part of the law enforcement agencies towards this crime.
Honor killings in India:
In Delhi, the capital city of India, a Muslim boy killed a Hindu boy, Ankit Saxena, in the name of honor, because the Hindu boy had fallen in love with the Muslim boy’s sister. In Haryana, a young couple planning to marry was brutally murdered by their parents and close relatives. When an uncle of the girl was approached as to how they could muster the courage to kill a young couple, he justified the act;
“What was done to them was the right thing to do. We had to set an example.” In another case, a 19-year-old girl was allegedly burned alive by her father in Chainpur Sarkar village, in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district, in India, because she was planning to marry a man outside her caste.
A desire for inter-caste marriage quite often ends up in a fatal reaction in India. However, the Hindus living in Pakistan face a tragedy opposite to what their religious brethren experience in India.
According to a BBC report, dated December 7, 2016, Indian police registered 251 cases of honor killings in 2015, whereas 28 cases were reported in 2014. This steep rise in honor killings in India is attributed to the manner in which the Indian police records data of murder cases. People killed in the name of honor are recorded separately from those killed in other kinds of murder attempts. However, women activists in India claim that the data still vastly differs from actual figures. One study in 2011 suggested that 900 people were being murdered, in the name of honor, every year in India.
That for more than 75 years, since partition separated both the countries, such a brutal crime has failed to attract governments’ attention speaks volumes of the cultural influence that has taken thunder away from a crime deserving strict action.
Even if the non-official figure of 900 fatalities for honor is accepted as correct, it still appears to be less when compared with the non-official figures of 700 victims for similar crimes in Pakistan, especially when we apply population difference that exists between these two countries. Is it because of the secular democratic system practiced in India?
Irrespective of the figures, the mere fact that honor killing is being practiced in India, is a proof that neither the country has learned from its past experiences nor has it grown out the habit of casting aspersion on others because of their caste. Marrying within the same religion and caste is the only norm widely acceptable in India; any deviation to this age-old tradition is bound to invite wrath from the society.
If honor killing in Pakistan is triggered by free-will marriages or love affairs, in India it also carries the weight of religion and caste-based hatred. Although these incidents occur in countries with different cultural dispensation, nature, and style in which the crime is conducted remain identical.
Quite mind-blowing that people in both countries commit this gruesome crime with little remorse? Despite living in two different countries and following different religions, women suffer the same fate. Similar socio-economic conditions are probably the only plausible explanation as to why women are killed in the name of honor.
