Honor Killing Of Women: A Society’s Choice

Abstract

Honor killing is a kind of issue or a situation that humans have to face. An already difficult world is made crueler by men by such inhuman deeds. This kind of issue has not been brought up so much because it is not considered an issue rather it is just considered a matter of pride being restored. The people who did such acts felt proud of themselves because they reestablished the family’s pride and morality. Not only a murderer is involved because sometimes a group of people around him are also there to manipulate his mind and alter it in a way that he starts believing that corrupt ways are the only way that will help him shelter its family’s honor. It is a shame that the ones who should be there to guard their women are the reason why they do not feel save enough even at their homes. All incidents that take place and all those beliefs are not religious teachings but are traditional norms that society has manufactured. Honor killing is a tradition which is followed by people of small community due to lack of awareness and education. A woman’s mistakes are unacceptable in our societies so they are never given a second chance and sacrificed in the name of honor. Fundamentally, their life’s decisions are taken by those men who do not even feel the worth of women they kill. With so much brutality women are sacrificed no matter if she was that man’s wife, sister, mother or any other female of his choice that dishonored him in anyway. The irritating thing about it is that the murderers are considered the grater men and appreciated for restoring their honor.

Introduction

Honor killing is an act of killing which is being travelled in our societies related to any religion and any type of cultural followers, People just kill their loved ones who have caused any type of harm or disrespect for their family. Families feel shame of what the society will think about them and then in what they call necessary precautions they do such terrified things from which coming back is not possible and they kill each other just for the honor of their family. These things only happen due to the lack of religion knowledge or due to poor literacy rate of our society, because people get influenced of what others think they should do.

Every conflict leads itself to a situation in which 6 out of 10 people think of doing this inhuman and horrible thing. It is a kind of incident in which the whole society claps for the killer and don’t looks the other way. All of this should have been reduced since when the parliament passed an anti-honor killing law in 2016 or at least the criminals should not be forgiven by the family. When crimes of honor killing takes place within the close relatives then they are majority of the times forgiven which leads to further spread of this concept and a belief that getting away with honor killing is not a big deal. If actions would be taken and strictly followed it would decrease its rate enough to make others understand that this is nowhere near even a choice also it’s not their right at all. People even hoped that an idea that a death can be ‘honorable’ should be there as they are in somewhat way protecting their pride and family’s dignity. But a murder is a murder and mandatory punishment should be given to stop such evil acts and cruelty. Men and women are both the victims of honor killing. But in Pakistan honor killing of women is more aligned.

In our Islamic society which say blood-shed for blood-shed, killing for killing, people don’t understand this term and take the law in their own hands and then find themselves in barbaric situations. People should be given a proper knowledge about everything what our religion says and how we should handle the situation according to the present laws. So, that the culprits face will be shown to the society with his punishment and make sure that it never happens again. And the people who used to clap their hands will never do that in case of honor killing because it’s not good act to follow.

Objectives

Education should be a focus to prevent such events from accruing. Only 16% of women in Pakistan are literate. Illiteracy rates are very high in Pakistan. The education sector is suffering from inadequate financing and infrastructure. Education needs to be improved, more schools are needed in Pakistan so more girls/boys could attend school In Pakistan whenever people see that there’s an act of terror being accrued in any place they just change their steps from the happening direction to the other and stay quiet and do anything. People should know that if they will raise a voice against such an unpleasant event they will be protected and the law former and protectors will protect then and will stop such events. When issues are highlighted on any source they should be taken into consideration to take actions and help in figuring out solution for such issues. Newspapers and reports that do provide information should be studied regarding honor killing issues. Even though there is not always a lot of information about it which can be useful. Culture is also one of those factors which are the basis of such problems. Traditions are followed through generations where they oppress women and it continues for years ahead. People should be given education on what Islam teaches us not what we are following through generations. Pakistan is one of the twelve countries who spend 2% of their GDP on education sector. Education needs to be improved, more schools are needed in Pakistan so more of our generation could attend school.

Providing a proper understanding of honor killing as one of the forms of honor based violence of human rights. There are also physical, mental issues due to violence can have a big impact on anyone’s life and an action should be taken immediately. Honor killing is also a form of domestic violence but the perpetrators are mostly not punished as they get bailed or are forgiven. Victim is blamed young or adult. Majority of the times the perpetrators are close relatives and common relations like husband, followed by brother or father. Religion is taken as an excuse to do what people wish when Islam is the only religion that provides freedom and right to women the most. Also it is not matter of Islam only but it also happens in Hinduism, Christianity, etc. Qisas (retribution), Diyat (blood money), Forgiving in the name of God by victim’s family. These are some of the reasons why perpetrator does not gets punished and the crime goes on. Mainstrea cases occur in rural areas and do not get enough attention to act on also lack of education and knowledge leads to such issues drastically. Violence of such kind majority of the times happens at home or by close relatives, so a check and balance on the activities of men and women by their families should be taken. In Pakistan Women are seen as commodity owned and controlled by their fathers, husbands and brothers. Women are not supposed to express any desires and feelings contrary to the wishes of their fathers, husbands, and brothers.

Evaluating the laws and regulations triggering honor killing. People should be given education to stand by the men and do any kind of work they want to do. They should be treated equally as men are. There should be practical reforms to enforce these rights in Pakistan. Which will clearly make people understand under which circumstances they need to go directly to the law makers.

The law tazir is a law which is implement on the culprit of honor killing included in the definition of fasad-fil-ard and a minimum penalty of 10 years as tazir laid down (with a maximum of 14 years), the awarding of a penalty in cases where the right of qisas has been waived or compounded has been left completely at the discretion of the court. As in the past, this provides the loophole for murderers to get away with minimal or no penalty. There should be tazir with High penalties so that there will be no loophole for the murderers to get away from

Honor killings are an extreme form of gendered domestic violence. Most involve young, single female victims and an assailant who is a male relative however, they also include some types of intimate-partner homicides, as well as cases with male victims, victims outside the family, and female assailants. An honor killing is motivated by the desire to restore a social reputation that in the killer’s perception has been damaged by rumors about or the victim’s actual breach of conduct norms regulating female sexuality in the widest sense; the decision to use lethal violence is a collective family affair, rather than the action of an individual perpetrator. The underlying motive in all cases irrespective of the victims’ gender is the punishment or coercion of women.

It is not about religion, it’s about culture. Honor”-based violence is driven by cultural norms that consider girls and women to be the property of men. It is perpetuated by the idea that a woman’s body is a vessel of her family’s honor, rather than her own to do with as she chooses, and a systemic view of girls and women as inferior to boys and men. These murders are motivated by the belief that a girl is merely a symbol of her family’s honor and that symbol can be smudged. “Girls are born only to stay at home and to bring honor to the family by following family traditions,

Let’s take an example of recent previous year event” said the brother (and proud killer) of social-media star and victim Qandeel Baloch. And in this view, girls and women are expendable when that honor is smudged and the family symbol is infected.

The problem cannot be solved by creating laws. We have to challenge social norms. In order to stop this practice there need to be strict laws prohibiting honor based violence, but there also needs to be a change in the social norms that support the violence and an awareness of how to appropriately deal with victims. In Pakistan While creating new laws to address honor based violence is important, the system of this honor is deeply ingrained in culture. Pakistani policemen or law makers and investigative authorities from the same culture may not necessarily motivated to enforce the law because they norms. And thus the culture diversity does not exist because everyone have the same thinking capabilities based on past norms and beliefs.

Literature review

Honor killing is a topic which does not get enough attention and majority of the times it is not even brought to forefront just to minimize it. The men in the family are behind such issues claiming to protect when they are actually ruining everything. Honor killing is not only common in a specific religion or cast or region but it occurs everywhere just because of the thinking and beliefs they have. Due to lack of education and domestic violence in rural areas violence is very much prevailing among them due to these women and girls adopt wrong ways to seek escape from their family and bad behavior of their husbands. People start to react even if that’s what they want or not because they think that this will make them part of a “Proud Society”.

Honor killing is very much dominant among South Asian countries where most of the population is poor and illiterate and are not even given enough freedom. If we look from Pakistan’s perspective then these types of cases are mostly seen in Sindh and Baluchistan. Quran has clearly mentioned about the actions taken against this issue. Due to modernization the actual laws which are given to us by Allah are not followed, international laws are followed rather than Islamic laws which have pretty much destroyed the roots of our country. Honor killing has different names but a locally known is “karo-kari” in which karo means dishonored men while kari means dishonored women. This illegal act leads to many problems that mostly result in mental illnesses and nobody takes this under consideration as mental illnesses are referred as being either totally senseless or just an excuse, which is wrong in so many ways as these mental conditions lead to future of the women and their children’s completely wrecked.

The concept of honor killing is social, cultural and moral underpinning that determines its preservation. Women are considered as the carriers of family’s honor and pride if they dare to break or disobey the rules built by societies they have damaged their honor so killing them or punishing them is considered the only way to regain their pride. This concept is not followed only by some groups of people or a certain region but is a mindset of generations as it was present in the world since centuries. Women are objectified, threatened, killed, raped, and assaulted not by only outsiders but it commonly starts from home. They are considered to understand and stay quiet on almost every matter also their opinion or standing up for themselves is considered such a shame for the families. Woman being superior in any way hurts the ego of the men as it makes them feel less “manly” of them when Islam teaches us things differently. Violence is a common factor as 1 out 3 women suffers from some sort of violence in her life by their intimate partner alone. Even in 21st century there are people with such narrow minded thinking that it seems like they are still living in the era where burying girls at their birth was considered normal. When Islam has given so much respect and high rank then why do men be given right to make them feel less of a person in any way, men are supposed to protect and when it comes to the relationship of husband and wife they are supposed to live in a way where they overcome each other’s flaws and build confidence instead of torturing of doubting each other’s intentions.

Many times the negative thinking of results in women suffering like women studying in a school, college or university where men do too also boils their blood like they might run away with them or do a shameful deed that will disrespect them in front of everyone. Women can achieve so much but instead of empowering their passion their passions are considered worthless and aimless because they are considered to stay back at home doing house chores and having minimal interactions with anyone.

Women and girls may lose honor through expressions of autonomy, particularly if this autonomy occurs within the area of sexuality. Men may be targeted either by the family of a woman who They are believed to have ‘dishonored’, in which case both parties may be at risk, or by their own family if they are believed to be homosexual.

Common triggers of honor killings based on the previous studies are:

• Refusing an arranged marriage.
• Having a relationshili outside the aliliroved grouli.
• Reliorting domestic violence.
• Attemliting to divorce.
• Refusing to divorce when ordered to do so by family members.
• Conflicts of honor, For examlile; concerning an inheritance.

It has been noticed in the previous studies that all of the above are most of the reasons honor killing occurs. Let’s get a brief on them Refusal of an arranged marriage is often a cause of an honor killing. The family which has preset the marriage risks disgrace if the marriage does not proceed. A woman attempting to obtain a divorce or separation without the consent of the husband/extended family can also be a trigger for honor killings. In cultures where marriages are set and goods are often exchanged between families, a woman's desire to seek a divorce is often viewed as an insult to the men who negotiated the deal. By making their marital problems known outside the family, the women are seen as exposing the family to public disrepute.

Role of society according to literature reviews of researches, communities also play the role of initiator. It is according to the standards set by the community that Honor is held to be a vital ingredient, and that women are seen as the gateway to men Honor. The community constantly continues the subordinate role of women, and if a woman tries to break out of this role or behaves in a manner not acceptable, then it is community who condemns her and thereby condemns her family. It is the community that is intolerant of women behaving any differently, and it is community that expects the misbehaving woman’s family to handle her, i. e. remove the stain on their family honor. It is also the community that pressures and taunts men to control their family. Therefore, it can be said that it is the community that places the men under pressure to behave in a certain way. The community also plays a major role through its inactive role in not extending help to the potential victim or the victim’s family.

Framework

Different steps should be taken like providing knowledge, awareness and building public opinion. Also media should provide information and spread awareness on issues like these so they understand that killing is not the solution to these problems and specific steps should be taken according to our religion to deal with them. Any kind of abuse should be stopped either physical, mental or sexual because a man is given the power to protect women not to harm or use his strength for any type of illegal or corrupt reason. A simple justification “BECAUSE HE IS A MAN” is not enough. Newspapers and other media platforms should highlight such topics as well as their solutions to spread enough awareness to build minds for future generations to stand against such incidents.

As from the above studies the variables we have identified are all independent of only on dependent variable which is honor killing. Let’s discuss each of the independent variable and its relation with the dependent variable one by one. Society have a great impact on the people to make big decisions as people share their opinions about different thing and often share such opinions on things which they will never do by themselves but they don’t know about the certain people who are listening to them and will make their decisions based on their opinion because they lack at self-decision making.

We are no one to question the norms and beliefs of the society. Norms and beliefs of a society are being passed from one generation to the other for hundreds of years. In old times people used to have a clear sight on the understanding of the norms and beliefs. On now which people have a lot of misconceptions. Because of our own self-made firqas and people who are the face of different Islamic parties share their opinions differently. This needs to be controlled because through this narrowness we have begun to question the people we love and ourselves

Education rate in Pakistan needs to be improved because there is a huge amount of illiterate people who are not educated and have Zero percent of knowledge about their laws and their regulations. Due to that they are bound to themselves and take most of the matters to their hands and think like if the tell anyone a stream of shame will be spread about their families. So; they keep quiet and make decisions like killing someone just for the sake of self-respect in front of the society. These things would have never happened if from the first day our media had portrayed these types of crimes correctly. And had not let society to promote such drastic events.

Discussion

Women are victims and have been victims since centuries back. Firstly they were used to be buried alive then were also burned alive or tortured to death. Education level being low plays a vital role in making things go in this direction as men do not get enough knowledge about how to treat a women and how to behave with them. They are compelled to believe according to what they want them to be since birth that they are the protectors and saviors of their family’s women when they actually are being brainwashed to abuse them and torture them. Society blames female even if she is a child and believes that she herself is the reason why men have to put a stop to their unacceptable actions like marrying someone of their choice, getting divorced or even rapped. Men victimize those females who they know or are from their family because they sometimes feel some kind of right to attack them and control them according to their desires. There are a greater number of victims who are married as they are targeted of domestic violence on daily basis in Pakistan. Married women are tortured by their in-laws for different reasons like not giving them a boy child or meeting with her family too often etc. So basically major perpetrators are husbands.

Women also get maltreated by other females. Just like mother-in-law of a female starts to form feuds between husband and wife with different things so her son will only follow her rules and regulations and would oppress her wife whenever she wants. In many countries including Pakistan women are killed by their husbands followed by their brothers which seems so absurd but still happens. Fathers kill their own daughter when they should be protected by them as he is the first men in her life who she trusts and loves first so it seems unbelievable but happens. Honor killing is the reaction of one or more people whose been dishonored so the issue that occurs is that the punishment is chosen by the families or that one person which is whatever they wish to due to her. In that vicious moment it does not matters that girl is either a young girl, a teenager or an adult. Sometimes even if it hurts the person to actually kill, he gets impelled to do such deed in the pressure of family or friends even just society.

Media plays a vital role when it comes to highlighting such incidents and spreading awareness about it. In some way it is our media’s responsibility to showcase such forbidding doings so people get knowledge about it to protect themselves from these kinds of things to happen to themselves also for them to stand against such violent actions to safeguard those who need our help. Media faces a lot of criticism some of the times just for portraying and bringing such matters to forefront which are taboo but it helps to spread awareness. Media really helps in building the minds and as well as develops thinking of its audience that is why it is crucial to let them see what would stop this cruelness. In honor killing the idea that is in mind is that victim was the one to be punished and it is hard to gather around that how many females suffer from such discrimination every year. When women see such horrifying stories they get mentally tortured because they also star to get upset and stress about their safety. Woman starts to feel unsafe in a society. It also not only affects the mental capabilities of a woman but also physically. Such categorized behavior has existed from many centuries by every kind of tradition almost. Women are always objectified as the puppets who should follow what men want because they are the only ones who know how to safeguard them and are more superior to them in any way.

Women are killed if she gives birth to another girl, she is tortured if she wants to pursue her ambitions and she is considered to obey not to give her own opinion or even share her thoughts because they are thought to be worthless. No matter how much modernization does comes the concept of thinking that women have no values or she is worthless does not goes away because such mindsets are passed down through generations. Like her even being raped is considered her fault because she dressed a certain way to was in public but in reality men do not even feel ashamed of their actions or have a second thought when they rape a 3 month old child which is absurd.

Women should be empowered by men so they would stand with them shoulder by shoulder and building lives for each other. Women are the most precious creation of Allah and no one has a right to dishonor that.

Conclusion

There is a need for major education and awareness about the issue and the law. Clearly, current methods have not resulted in the information being spread far and wide. Media plays an important role, and not just to report the latest honor killing, but also providing details about the law and its implications. Children, especially, but also adults, need to be educated about honor killings on some forum or the other. The State needs to take a stronger role to ensure dissemination of information. One suggestion relating to the police could be that the police should hold a meeting with the community every week to discuss different communal issues and different laws.

The legal profession has its existing problems of time delays, corruption and transparency, as is generally known, but also it is not always sensitive to the situation regarding honor killings. Finding that honor killing can be used as a method for mitigation of sentences to murderers is one such example. It is necessary to establish in the courts that it is not acceptable to use women for holding the man’s honor, and to emphasize that violence against women for any reason should never be condoned in our society in any way.

An open outreach program needs to be started to provide shelter and protection for women who run away from possible murders. The community cannot stay silent any longer. The community needs to be engaged in constant and repeated discussion on the monstrous nature of the crime of honor killing in order to bring about a meaningful social change within the Pakistani society.