---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Syed Ehtisham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 7:12 PM
Subject: [IHRO] Honor killings
To: socialist pakistan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, hr indian
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, bangla vision <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
masjid nabvi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, political analysts <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, omar ali <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Live burial of women in bluchistan is not uncommon, but its defense in the
august upper house is a new. the acting chairman of the senate, another
Baluchi Sirdar tried to mininize the gravity of the heinous deed by stating
that only five women had died, :asmaan to naheen toota".
HONOR KILLING-AN OVERVIEW
Of all the evils spawned by the tribal/feudal society, honor killing is
arguably the most heinous.
Apologists try to equate it with "crime of passion" but crimes of
passion are abrupt, unmediated, and impulsive acts of violence committed by
persons who, in their own lights, have come face to face with an incident
wholly repulsive and unacceptable, and who technically and for the duration
of the act, are insane and incapable of self-control. One well known and
illustrative example is that of an Indian Naval officer, Commander Nanavati
who some thirty years ago went to his apartment, found his wife and her
paramour in conjugal embrace, shot both of them, went out, accosted a
traffic policeman, confessed to the killing and demanded to be arrested. The
policeman demurred, he could not arrest an officer, so he took over
directing the traffic, sent the policeman to fetch a police inspector who
arrived in due course, and arrested him.
I have not been able to find as striking or so well documented
example of genuine Honor killing in Pakistan as this one, though stories of
enraged, out of control, husbands, fathers, and brothers abound. Murder of a
"guilty" female is reported about once a month in Pakistani newspapers,
though according to reliable statistics it occurs, on the average three
times a day.
The usual honor killings in the tribe and clan ridden Pakistan, on
the other hand are in most cases deliberate, well planned and premeditated
acts, when a relative of a female kills her ostensibly to uphold his honor,
though it is well established that in most cases the overriding motive is
monetary/property loss entailed in giving away a female out of tribe,
biraderi etc.
The practice is a relic of the times when law and order was a
matter of tribal code
(A recent variant is sanctioning gang rape of a woman for alleged insult to
a member of a powerful family by a member of "low" family, for example the
recent Mukhtaran Mai case in Pakistan) and the British on assuming control,
and with a view to pacifying the natives and minimizing opposition to their
over lordship, incorporated honor killing in their jurisprudence, even
though it was repugnant to their code of justice and fair play. But they
imposed very stringent conditions viz sexual activity was actually observed,
the perpetrator confessed, had an otherwise upright character, had
blood/marriage relation with the girl and reported to the police
immediately. Under British rule it was a rare incident. The perpetrator
would not be sentenced to death but there would be a long jail sentence and
social sanctions as well.
But above all, the crime was deemed to have been committed against
the state in contravention of law and not a simple private affair.
Qisas (eye for an eye) and Diyat (blood money) as part of Hudood
laws were promulgated as Presidential Ordnance, not requiring parliamentary
assent, by General Zia, the military dictator of Pakistan from 1977 to 1988,
are closely related relics of pre Islamic societies, where the concept of
these offences being family affairs, was accepted. Islam made these
violations of law crimes against the state (though clerics in their role of
props of the ruling class generally look the other way or even support the
practice). Since the departure of the British and with them fear of the law
and judicial procedures and especially since the dark days of Zia Ul Haq,
women have been relegated of to a third class status.
This intolerant theology was invented over a hundred of years after the
prophet of Islam (PBUH) at the behest of Abbasid Caliphs, and revived in
eighteenth century by a person by the name of Abdul Wahab, with whom the
progenitor of the Saudi royal clan had signed a compact that the clan chief
would look after the worldly affairs and Godly ones would be assigned to
Wahab.
It did not get any where till the successors of the clan chief on the one
hand and those of Wahab on the other got together to fight with the
"infidel" British and the French against fellow Muslims the Turks. The house
of Ibn e Saud utilized the fanatics as a weapon against their local rival,
Shareef the ruler of Mecca who claimed descent from the prophet of Islam
,wholly repugnant to the spirit and word of Islam. The British had promised
Hejaz to Shareef but gave it instead to Saud and left the former with
consolation prizes of Iraq and Jordan.
Pakistan inherited a tolerant version of Islam. I recall from my
childhood that we shunned extremists and socialized with non-Muslims. Over
the following several decades, as the leaders failed to come up to
expectations, social services deteriorated, the ruling clique led the
country down the disastrous path of wars, military rule, subservience to
foreign interests, curtailment of expenditure on nation building, widening
divide between the rich and the poor and finally civil war and loss of half
of the country. Orthodoxy took hold of the imagination of people in the
country. Bhutto pledged an egalitarian society, but ended up by
rejuvenating his feudal class. Zia ul Haq hammered the final nail into the
coffin of liberal Pakistan.
Feudal lords have ruled Pakistan even since its inception; all levers of
power, Army, Civil service, Mullahs and Press have been under their control.
Army is the most effective tool of feudal society as it has brute power and
can ignore with contempt the law of the land. Other components of the evil
quad (Feudals, Army, Civil service, and Mullah) willingly cooperate. Civil
servants and judges supinely obey the army. (The stand taken by CJ Iftikhar
Choudhury is the sole exception, was letdown by the lawyer's movement leader
Aitzaz Ahsan, but that is another discussion). Expression of opinion is
prohibited and all coercive apparatus of state is used to crush opposition.
Education is discouraged and whatever little is allowed, is subverted by
distortion of curricula. Honor killing is a made to measure cover for them.
If Pakistan were encumbered only with the problem of fanaticism and
relics of the colonial times, it would not be so bad. To compound the misery
uncontrolled growth of population was allowed in the name of religion. West
Pakistan (now the only Pakistan) had a population of 35 million in 1947. Now
it is 170 million and growing at over three percent per year. Even if the
government functioned honestly, sincerely and efficiently (which admittedly
it does not) no innovation in methods of production could cope with the
immense increase in the number of mouths to feed. Health, education,
nutrition, physical and mental development continue to deteriorate. Human
sub-species incapable of protest is being created.
In any case, few in Pakistan have the time, inclination, means
or education to think, read books, and analyze the machinations of the "evil
quad". Zia literally ignored unfavorable articles in "Dawn" and is believed
to have said that the reader ship of the newspaper was only 40,000 (45,000
on Friday) and these 40-45,000 had their interest linked with the ruling
Junta.
There are no doubt valiant voices in the country and among
expatriates (such as AANA, Asian American network against Abuse, and as
shown by the recent mass protests and results of elections in Pakistan), but
they are akin to straws in the wind. All conferences, seminars, resolutions
and press notes in effect and in substance are irrelevant. They look to the
west specially USA for putting pressure on Pakistani authorities to respect
human rights and law. But the west is not interested in human rights in
third world countries. They supported Taliban in Afghanistan where the
fanatics were perpetrating the worst crimes against the Afghans.
A total structural change in society is needed. It would be
tantamount to a revolution. Revolutions are historically indigenous and
cannot be imported or imposed from outside.
Following is a summary of the report of Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International recommendations, and the protection and empowerment of
women act 2003, presented to Pakistan National Assembly, presented with a
fond hope that it will stimulate some minds and goad them to initiate the
struggle against the evil quad.
Human Rights Commission Of Pakistan
Honor killings 1998 to 2002 1464 (married 659- unmarried 534)
Amnesty International Recommendations
Review criminal laws to ensure equality before law and equal
protection of law to women.
Make domestic violence in all its manifestations a criminal
offence.
Make sale of women and girls or giving women in marriage against
financial considerations a criminal offence.
Under take wide-ranging awareness programs.
Provide gender-sensitization training to law enforcement and
judicial personnel.
Ensure that human rights activists, lawyers, and women's rights
activists can pursue their legitimate activities with out harassment
The 2003 "Act"
Government to ensure equal participation of women in all walks of life
Discrimination in pay on basis of gender is prohibited.
Domestic violence and honor killing be punishable in the same manner as
personal injury or culpable homicide.
Every woman shall be entitled to marry a person of her choice.
At least one third of seats on Islamic Ideology Council and other government
commissions be reserved for women.
Separate/independent enclosures in jail for women controlled by female
police
S.Ehtisham
PO box 469
Bath NY 14810
Phone 607 776 3336
Dr. Syed Ehtisham
(607) 776-3336
Blog syedehtisham.blogspot.com
Feudalism, militarism, fundamentalism and bureaucrats constitute the evil
Quad in Pakistan.
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