There have been incidents of quarrels, clashes, beatings, violence and murders in the name of honor all over the world, including Pakistan, the history of which spans centuries. Yet most of these incidents are not due to honor but ignorance.In fact, ignorance is the factor that prompts a person to kill in the name of honor. But Islam says it is murder and should be avoided.
It is a common misconception that honor killing victims are only women, with only men being the perpetrators. However, in 2011 a woman inside Karachi committed the heinous act of disposing of her husband’s body by cooking it after cutting it into pieces. In 2018, a woman in the UAE fed her boyfriend’s body parts to others.
Numerous similar incidents have been reported in Pakistan, India, and other countries in which the killers were women and the victims were men. The United Nations Human Rights Commission says sch honor killings cases have been reported in Britain, Brazil, Bangladesh, Ecuador, India, Egypt, Italy, Israel, Morocco, Sweden, Uganda, Iran, Palestine, Denmark, and Finland, Germany, Norway and France.
In the news that appeared on the Pakistani media yesterday, IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that the firing on the van in Swat was actually an honor killing. The deceased Hussain Ahmed was killed by his brother-in-law in the name of honor while 2 children were also injured in the incident. KP police have arrested one accused while two others remain on the run.
While the plight of women cannot be ignored, the notion of honor killings must be reimagined taking male victims into consideration so that policy measures protecting all citizens equally can be fashioned and adopted.
