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May 4, 2006
Pakistan: Six Family Members Slaughtered in Muslim "Honor Killings"
News from the Pakistan Daily Times relates two tales of honor killings in Punjab. In one of these instances, six members of one family were shot dead by their own relatives. The incident happened in a village sixty kilometers (37 miles) from the industrial city of Sheikhupura in the province of Punjab.
According to Dawn the violence took place in Jatree Waseeran village in Nankana Sahib yesterday. The killings were "provoked" by a young man named Azam, who had a relationship with a girl named Aasia. The girl and youth were caught in a compromising situation by the girl's mother, who then told her husband, Khan.
What followed was unbridled carnage. Khan took his son Arshad, as well as four of his relatives (Jaj, Mokha, Amin and a woman, Maryam Bibi) as well as three other individuals and went to the house of Azam's cousin, Hayat, armed with guns. They opened fire on all the family members in the house.
Hayat was killed on the spot, as well as his wife, his father, two of his sons and another relative. Three other relatives were critically injured in the gunfire, and were taken to Mayo hospital. Such is the "justice" of honor killing that the youth who initially provoked the anger, Azam, was not in the house at the time, and did not get shot.
The local police spokesman said that teams had been set up in the area to arrest the perpetrators of the massacre. Other civilians in the region made protests against the violence, saying that the area was becoming more lawless. They claimed that the displaying of weapons had become virtually routine in the district.
In Khanpur village, Chichawatni, near the town of Sahiwal in the central Punjab, late on Tuesday evening, an 18 year old woman had her throat slit by her own brother as she watched television in her room. Sajida Bibi had an afair with her brother-in-law, and eloped with him. Her brother-in-law was charged with abduction and arrested five days ago, and Sajida returned to her parents' home. There, her brother slit her throat and then went to the police to report his crime. He said to police that he had done it for "honor", and that he had no regrets about his actions.
More cases of extreme domestic violence are reported in the Daily Times. In Khanpur Village on the Lahore Road in Punjab province, a man had begun to suspect his wife was having an affair. When his demands that she comply with his wishes and "mend her ways" did not achieve the desired result, he axed her. She died in hospital.
Though all violence is abhorrent, one middle-aged Muslim man's sexual greed led to his downfall in Gulshan-e-Hadeed on the outskirts of the southern city of Karachi. 57-year old Afzal Mughal, a building contractor, already had three wives, but that was not enough for his ego. He already had numerous extra-marital activities, despite having three wives. He planned to add a new and younger bride to his list, about two months ago, and then mysteriously disappeared.
His 45-year old wife Majeeda Khatoon has confessed to police that she sawed off her husband's head with a knife, and dismembered his body, it was revealed yesterday. Her relatives had assisted her in slicing off his limbs, and the body parts were dumped in a sewer. His lower limbs have been found.
A police spokesman said: "The victim was said to bear a passion for women and Khatoon, who was already fed up with her husband's extramarital activities, got annoyed when he said he was going for a fourth marriage."
Though this last case can hardly be called an honor killing, the fact that Khatoon's relatives helped her to dispose of the body shows that the sexist concept of polygamy, though allowed by Islam, is not always accepted by wives who become replaced by younger models.
A recent report by the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HCRP) stated that about 1,000 honor killings take place in Pakistan every year, with young women the most frequent victims. Often, these cases never get reported. Such is the low status of women in rural parts of Pakistan.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at May 4, 2006 7:25 AM
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