This is not a pleasant article to read. It tells us how, in many parts of Pakistan, marrying for love may result in one's own family murdering you and your spouse, in the name of honour.
Somehow, murdering your own daughter restores honour in the insane Islamic minds of many Pakistanis. After all, murdering your own daughter is much better than being embarrassed at the fact that she married without your consent, or married someone believed to be from a lower 'class'.
Of course, we are not talking honour here at all but flat-out pride. Both of the above scenarios are an insult to the family and many families would rather murder their own child than be seen by their neighbours as having been insulted. When your pride is more important than the lives of your children, you are seriously insane. How can such barbarism exist in the 21st century?
A young couple in Pakistan were tied up and had their throats slit with scythes after they married for love, police said Saturday.
The 17-year-old girl and 31-year-old man married on June 18 without the consent of their families in eastern Pakistan's Punjabi village of Satrah, police said.
The girl's mother and father lured the couple home late on Thursday with the promise that their marriage would receive a family blessing, said local police official Rana Zashid.
"When the couple reached there, they tied them with ropes," he said. "He (the girl's father) cut their throats."
Police arrested the family, who said they had been embarrassed by the marriage of their daughter, named Muafia Hussein, to a man from a less important tribe.
Cultural traditions in many areas of Pakistan mean that killing a woman whose behaviour is seen as immodest is widely accepted.
Immodest behaviour that sparked recent killings included singing, looking out of the window or talking to a man who is not a relative. For a woman to marry a man of her own choice is considered an unacceptable insult by many families.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 869 so-called "honour killings" were reported in the media last year — several a day. But the true figure is probably much higher since many cases are never reported.
The weak Pakistani government, battling with a troubled economy and a Taliban insurgency, does not collect centralized statistics and has no strategy to combat the killings.
Pakistani law means that even if a woman's killer is convicted, her family is able to forgive the killer.
Many families simply nominate a member to do the killing, then formally forgive the killer.
That's what happened earlier this week, a lawyer said, when a tribal council in central Pakistan's Muzaffargarh district sentenced another young couple to death for marrying for love.
The couple's lawyer, Zia Kiyyani, said the two had appealed for police protection after their marriage on June 21, but had not received any.
The 19-year-old girl's family came to take her from her husband's family, swearing on the Koran that they would not harm her and would hold a proper wedding ceremony, he said.
"During this the girl shouted, cried and mourned for her life and her husband's life because she knew that they will kill both of them," he said.
The girl, named Mehreen Bibi, was shot by a member of her family when she returned home, police said. Her husband went into hiding and her father registered the murder complaint so he could forgive the killer, Kiyyani said.
"That will end the case," he said.
Pakistan must write and enforce a law revoking the right of a family member from forgiving the murderer of another family member. This is legalized murder and it doesn't belong in the 21st century.
Somehow, murdering your own daughter restores honour in the insane Islamic minds of many Pakistanis. After all, murdering your own daughter is much better than being embarrassed at the fact that she married without your consent, or married someone believed to be from a lower 'class'.
Of course, we are not talking honour here at all but flat-out pride. Both of the above scenarios are an insult to the family and many families would rather murder their own child than be seen by their neighbours as having been insulted. When your pride is more important than the lives of your children, you are seriously insane. How can such barbarism exist in the 21st century?
A young couple in Pakistan were tied up and had their throats slit with scythes after they married for love, police said Saturday.
The 17-year-old girl and 31-year-old man married on June 18 without the consent of their families in eastern Pakistan's Punjabi village of Satrah, police said.
The girl's mother and father lured the couple home late on Thursday with the promise that their marriage would receive a family blessing, said local police official Rana Zashid.
"When the couple reached there, they tied them with ropes," he said. "He (the girl's father) cut their throats."
Police arrested the family, who said they had been embarrassed by the marriage of their daughter, named Muafia Hussein, to a man from a less important tribe.
Cultural traditions in many areas of Pakistan mean that killing a woman whose behaviour is seen as immodest is widely accepted.
Immodest behaviour that sparked recent killings included singing, looking out of the window or talking to a man who is not a relative. For a woman to marry a man of her own choice is considered an unacceptable insult by many families.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 869 so-called "honour killings" were reported in the media last year — several a day. But the true figure is probably much higher since many cases are never reported.
The weak Pakistani government, battling with a troubled economy and a Taliban insurgency, does not collect centralized statistics and has no strategy to combat the killings.
Pakistani law means that even if a woman's killer is convicted, her family is able to forgive the killer.
Many families simply nominate a member to do the killing, then formally forgive the killer.
That's what happened earlier this week, a lawyer said, when a tribal council in central Pakistan's Muzaffargarh district sentenced another young couple to death for marrying for love.
The couple's lawyer, Zia Kiyyani, said the two had appealed for police protection after their marriage on June 21, but had not received any.
The 19-year-old girl's family came to take her from her husband's family, swearing on the Koran that they would not harm her and would hold a proper wedding ceremony, he said.
"During this the girl shouted, cried and mourned for her life and her husband's life because she knew that they will kill both of them," he said.
The girl, named Mehreen Bibi, was shot by a member of her family when she returned home, police said. Her husband went into hiding and her father registered the murder complaint so he could forgive the killer, Kiyyani said.
"That will end the case," he said.
Pakistan must write and enforce a law revoking the right of a family member from forgiving the murderer of another family member. This is legalized murder and it doesn't belong in the 21st century.
No comments:
Post a Comment