Honour killing cases surge in Pakistan as Balochistan reports five killings in a day

Three women and two men were killed in the name of honour in Jaffarabad, Mastung and Hub areas during the past one day, reported Dawn citing police. 

In the Goth Faqir Mohammad area of the Jaffarabad district, a man gunned down his young wife a nephew on Friday evening. 

While on the outskirts of Mastung town, a man and his wife were slaughtered. And in the Hub area, a woman, Mah Jan, was allegedly gunned down by her second husband on Saturday. 

It is the recent rise in the cases of honour killings in Pakistan. Despite the assurances by the authorities, such violence are on the rise in many regions of the country.

With such cases, Pakistan is witnessing an alarming rise in the number of honour killings as it claimed 176 lives last year, mostly including women, according to the Sindh Suhai Sath, a non-governmental organisation. 

Last week, Dr Ayesha Hassan Dharejo and Advocate Farzana Khoso, the chairperson and co-chairperson, respectively, of the organisation, said that 93 people were killed in such incidents in Kandhkot-Kashmore, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Ghotki districts alone. 

According to the statistics compiled by the organisation, 27 people (23 women and four men) were killed in Kandhkot-Kashmore district, 26 people (14 women and 12 men) in Jacobabad district, 23 people (18 women and five men) in Shikarpur district and 17 people (14 women and three men) were killed in Ghotki district in 2021, according to Dawn. 

They pointed out that charge sheets were filed in 649 honour killing cases but only 19 of the accused were convicted. Those nominated in 136 cases were acquitted while 494 cases were pending a trial.

They noted with concern that the conviction rate appeared to be around two per cent, and attributed the position to weak prosecution, slackness on the part of police and anomalies in the law and justice system.