Khalida Brohi: How I work to protect women from honor killings

How can we stop honour killings?

 Farzana Parveen was killed on May 27 by relatives for marrying against her family's wishes [AFP]

Disturbing cases of extreme violence against women from around the world have come to the fore in the past few weeks. Farzana Parveen's murder in Pakistan highlighted the country's dismal record of women killed in so-called honour killings. According to the Pakistani Human Rights Commission, 869 women were murdered in 2013 in what were said to be "honour killings". 

Sensationalist media quickly picked up Parveen's story and blasted the familiar stereotypes and misrepresentations, sidelining a much-needed open discussion on misogyny. 

The so-called honour killings is one manifestation of violent and criminal practices against women that seem to persist in places such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and several other Muslim-majority countries. Some are quick to seek the causes of this deplorable act in religion, when in fact Islam stands clearly against it. Therefore, it is important to expose the faulty logic behind such accusations and openly discuss violence against women and honour killings in the context of Islam as well as in the context of perceived social norms of honour. 

Understanding the 'honour code'

It is important first to consider the concept of honour itself. Renowned philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah'sanalysis of honour and his idea of moral revolutions can be particularly useful in this case. His book The Honour Code explores the processes that ended three abominable practices related to honour: duelling in Britain, foot-binding in China and slavery in the British Empire. According to Appiah, what ended these practices "wasn't the moral arguments ..., it was the willingness to live by them."  

Islam and reshaping honour 

After drawing lessons from history, reshaping honour is what Appiah suggests as a way to successfully move forward in the ongoing battle against honour killings. 

In other words, those willing to eradicate honour killings should pursue a strategy of collective shaming: to shed light on how such cases are bad publicity for the country, and demand the government'saccountability for keeping Pakistan "a ship permanently poised on the verge of failure". 

Religion is also a key factor in campaigning against honour killings. For example, Islam plays a very important role in Pakistan, including it in its constitution. Therefore it is encouraging to hear a fatwa by the Pakistan Ulema Council, declaring "Killing one's daughter and humiliating them is a sign of ignorance."(However, as one critic put it, clerics need to be more vocal and consistent in opposing every form of bigotry.) 

In the battle for shifting perceptions of honour in those Muslim communities where it causes bloodshed, it is of fundamental importance to demonstrate the fact that Islam in no way condones honour killing. 

For example, there are two verses in the Quran - An-Nur and Maryam, which were revealed to defend the honour of Prophet Muhammad's wife, Ayesha and Prophet Isa's mother, Maryam respectively. In fact, Islamic laws regarding sexual morality teach us that God protects woman's honour, and that the Quran holds both men and women equally responsible for adultery. It is clear that the idea of violence against women to protect honour is in no way justice prescribed by the Quran, but instead stems from socially constructed notions of patriarchy. Therefore, Islam can help us against honour killing as a religion that protects women from violence and condemns those who hurt them. 

Appiah rightly points out that Islam is "an ally" in the fight against "honour killings", and offers us a proposal to consider: Shaming communities where this practice occurs for disgracing Muslim ideals instead. Given the Western media hysteria surrounding cases like Farzana's, it is not difficult to see how the actions of a few Muslims stain the perception of Islam by non-Muslims. 

In this regard, it is important to distinguish between an act that is "Islamic" and an act perpetrated by a Muslim. As Myriam Francois-Cerrah points out in her article on Islamophobia: "Although Pakistan is a Muslim majority ?country, to assume Islam is the central motivating factor in the behaviour ?of all Pakistanis, is a form of cultural racism."

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My beautiful motherland is sinking under a growing tide of blood and broken bodies

I was 17 when I first understood how little a woman's life is worth is in Pakistan. How the 'love' of a brother and a mother can lead to a woman, a girl, being hunted with brutality, killed and buried in an early grave.

I met Sania (not her real name) when I was 16 and staying in my grandfather's village in Pakistan Kashmir. She had travelled to our village with her family from rural Punjab to visit some people. I remember Sania. She was 16. She was wearing a red scarf. She had beautiful almond-shaped eyes and whenever she was asked a question she would cover her mouth with the red scarf, look down and then whisper. Like most girls her age she was painfully shy.

Sania appeared curious to meet a Pakistani woman around her age from the west. Because of her shyness we communicated mostly through smiles and she spent a lot of time giggling at me.

The following year when I returned to the village and asked after everyone, I remembered Sania and asked how she was. My aunt raised her finger to her lips and told me to hush. She then pulled me inside the house and sat me down.

"She's dead. Her brother killed her. She was in the kitchen at the time. He entered the kitchen and told her that she was a shameful woman and had brought shame and disgrace on the family. He accused her of looking at a man. He then stabbed her over and over. We heard that she was stabbed at least 20 times." 

Sania's brother had killed her in the family home and nobody did a thing to stop him. The police had arrested him but he was released a few days later because their mother had forgiven him. A mother had forgiven her son for killing her beautiful daughter with the almond-shaped eyes. He was free to live his life while Sania was in the ground, covered by the soil of a country that continues to betray women like her.

Full article.

Honour killings: India's crying shame

Some gruesome cases that have been reported in the media in recent times from different regions in the country include that of 23 year old Dharmender Barak and 18 year old Nidhi Barak, who paid a heavy price for defying their families and falling in love.

The couple, from a village in Rohtak district in Harayana, were tortured, mutilated and killed by the girl�s father and their relatives when they tried to run away and marry. A friend whom the couple had confided in, leaked their plans to the girl�s parents, who lured them back with assurances, only to allegedly kill them in the most cruel manner. The police is treating the �double murder� as a �honour crime�.

In September 2013, the Haryana police arrested a police sub-inspector in connection with the killing of a 19 year old girl from Panipat. Meenakshi had eloped with her lover and the cop had tracked her down and handed her over to her family, who then allegedly murdered her.

On October 24, 2013, in another case from Haryana, a 15 year old Muslim girl from Muzzafarnagar was banished to her uncle�s house to prevent her from seeing the boy she was in love with. Her uncle allegedly murdered her and buried her in Panchkula District in Haryana.

While the cases of �honour killings� continue to pile up, convictions are few and far between.

Full article.