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Ever since Sharemeen Obaid Chinoy came out with her Oscar winning documentary ‘A girl in the river’ on honor killings, the number of incidents caused by this vice have somewhat decreased. After the documentary, the Punjab Govt. even introduced a rights-bill for women, which indicted harsh punishments on perpetrators involved in such cases.
The incidents might have decreased but a vice which has prevailed in the country for 70 odd years cannot be rid that easily. Another tragic incident took place in Karachi where a young couple who had just eloped, saw the end of their lives soon after. 24-year-old Sher Amn and 22-year-old Wasima had come to Karachi from Akakhel and eloped, hiding from their families.
Even though the case has been registered against unknown assailants at the Shah Latif Police Station, it is very clear that the reason of the deaths is honor killing. Sher Amn and Wasima had fallen in love back in their village and their parents/families were loathe to their marriage. The couple then decided to run and go into hiding in Karachi.
However, that was not to be the case. Unknown assailants stormed the house the couple had rented and bolted their bodies with 9 mm bullets, of which’s shells were recovered from the house. After hearing gunshots, neighbors had informed the police. Upon arrival, both Sher Amn and Wasima were found dead.
Old enough to choose their life partners, the medieval and draconian mindsets that prevail in the feudal culture and rural areas of Pakistan cannot be wiped out easily. For starters, the belief that our children are subjects of our wants needs to be rid from these areas. For that, proper counselling teams and organizations need to come in play. These remedial classes should be for both children and parents, made compulsory on them by the writ of law on district level.
It is not just the rural mindset of the country, but the general belief of grip over our children’s choices that hurt us the most. In Gujranwala, a young girl was killed in the name of honor by her father and brother for not marrying within their family. The girl had been living in Italy since 2002 and was lured into coming home by the family.
For over three months, she was forced to marry one of her cousins. When she refused and said that she would be marrying someone in Italy, a day before she was to return, she was murdered by her own kin. The family then dubbed this incident as an ‘accident’.
