WHEN HONOR BECOMES DEATH SENTENCE

The most burning topic of this society is honor killing. Do you know what is it? First of all let us talk about honor and respect. Mostly people think that they are similar , no they are not. Respect is earned, meaning that it is what you give to someone will be given you to back. But what is honor then? Honor is a necessity , a requirement , a reputation and self esteem. Honor killing is the act of killing a woman, a girl, a daughter by her husband, brother or father . They do this because they feel that the victim has brought dishonor to the family. The question is why only woman becomes the victim not man? We see that there are many things in which man are equally involved with woman but the truth is honor killing is applied to woman in this third class society .

The things which lead to honor killing for woman are a woman can be targeted for murder for a variety of other reasons, including refusing to enter into an arranged marriage or seeking divorce or separation—even from an abusive husband. Moreover, when she takes stand for herself family members think that oh my god she takes stand for herself, now she thinks that she is on the edge of making deci sions for her own, how rude she is , we will not accept her decisions, we will make her decisions by ourself, who is she to take stand for herself. These things not only lead to honor killings but also mental stress, mental traumas etcc..

According to UN, 5000 deaths are approximately occurring in name of honor killing annually. Data from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) shows that in 2024, ‘honor’ killings continued to be a serious issue across Pakistan, with particularly high figures in Sindh and Punjab. From January to November, a total of 346 people fell victim to ‘honor’ crimes in the country. These examples clearly show the discrimination between male and female genders in this patriarchal society where gender disparities are so common.

We say that Pakistan is an Islamic country but unfortunately no Islamic laws are being considered .General Zia ul Haq’s era was quite better in this regard than today where he clearly punished victims so that no one can do such type of thing again. The hudood ordinance of 1979 was introduced by president of Pakistan General zia ul Haq was overall the part of Islamization process in country. Not only this Prophet PBUH before death said 3 times to take care of women. From this hadith it is clearly stated that how much respectful women are .

The political structure of Pakistan is completely distorted which is one of the main reasons why all these things are happening .”The authorities must end impunity for violence and abolish so-called village and tribal councils that prescribe such horrific crimes.”

Nadia Rahman, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for research in South Asia.

In many countries if honor killing is not done directly, it is done indirectly where we see that forced suicides are being done in families. They force their daughters and traumatize them on a peak that this would enable them to do forced suicides. Although suicides and honor killings are totally haram and illegal killings. In our societies, especially in underprivileged areas this practice is too much common. They think that love marriages are a sin although Islam has permitted it.

Honor killings are often a result of strongly misogynistic views towards women and the position of women in society. In our totally male dominated societies, we see that females are totally dependent firstly on their Fathers then brothers and then husbands. This thing is what makes them feel suppressed. People has forgotten the respect and value of women. They think that women are just their proprieties, they can do whatever they want. This concept of ownership has turned woman into a commodity which can be exchanged.

We see that not only honor killings are the part of this society but also murders, rape cases of children and sexually harassed and assaulted children. These things are closely linked together. Have you ever thought that why they are so common especially in an Islamic country which we call Islamic Republic of Pakistan? The main reason is that laws are just by name, governments don’t bother it, political leaders are in their own leisure. Case of a little girl Zainab, then the most recent case of Punjab Group Of Colleges. But still the matter of shame is no one gets justice. If the murderer is strong he or she has money, they can easily be found of no guilty even in many cases most of teachers are themselves involved.

Now how can we think that living in this society is peaceful place for women. No! where laws cannot do anything, where justice does not prevail, where people are lacking moral values, where students have forgotten their aims , that country will never become a strong nation and will always be the slave of America. They will never think independently about their aims because they have forgotten the purpose why they are in this world.

Stopping Honor killings is the now the demand. How can we achieve it? We can talk much but practically we are sleeping. Honor killings are spreading much fastly in the society as it seems to be the trend. We can stop honor killings as a practice by raising voices through social media platforms, by making posters, by rallies of justice, by punishing the victims , by making laws for justice and also to implement them, by giving women their rights, by giving them confidence that they can achieve it.

This all is okay but first comes our moral and basic values. As a muslim, it is our prime responsibility that we must have our morals first. This comes from the training of parents from childhood. So in this regard , parents must put complete efforts in their children how to respect a woman. If a child knows how to respect his mother or sister at home , he will surely respect the women too.