https://www.humantruth.info/pakistan_women.html
By Vexen Crabtree 2024
#gender_prejudice #gender_violence #islam #islam_and_women #religion_and_women
Women live a very inequal and unsecure life in Pakistan, with too many facing violent attacks and "authorities failing to provide adequate protection or hold perpetrators accountable"1 and turning a blind-eye to matters of 'tribal traditions'2. The problems start even before birth, with demographic data indicating a widespread problem of infanticide against femalekind, leading to Pakistan having one of the world's lowest ratios of females to males3.
Substantially more than 1,000 women are murdered in honour killings each year in Pakistan1,4,5. They are murdered by their relatives for not adhering to strict conservative modes of fashion, life, love or conduct. Avoiding forced marriages is common cause for a father to murder his daughter (or get a younger brother to do it, who therefore only services a short sentence as a minor). These problems are especially bad in rural communities, where a combination of poor education, weak government reach and male-dominated strict Islam mean women have no protections.
#gender_prejudice #gender_violence #pakistan #religion_and_women
In the 2010s, The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was counting over 800 clear cases of honour killings in local newspapers, but say "but the true figure is probably much higher because many cases are never reported"4 and all estimates place the actual figure at well over 1000 pear year1,5. Most are for relationships between young girls and young boys5, for shunning an arranged marriage or for pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable within Pakistan's strict version of Islam.
“Of course this is illegal, but the state is too weak and too unwilling to enforce the law consistently. Very few of the culprits will be brought to justice.”
The Economist (2012)5
“Violence against women and girls - including rape, 'honor' killings, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced marriage - remained a serious problem [in 2018]. Pakistani activists estimate that there are about a 1,000 'honor' killings every year.”
Human Rights Watch (2018)1
#arranged_marriages #denmark #gender_prejudice #gender_violence #honour_killings #islam_and_women #pakistan #religion_and_women
The following examples show that it's not a problem of just individual fathers, but of communities who are entrenched in barbaric patriarchalist nonsense, leading to a mass failure to behave ethically:
In 2017, in a village in Pakistan's half of the Punjab region, a local council of elders ordered a 15-year-old to rape another teenage girl, 16, as a 'fair' response to his own 12-year-old sister being raped by that family. This barbarism attracted the police, who arrested 24 members of the council, some of whom were present at the vengeance rape. The Punjab region's new Violence Against Women Center took up this case as one of its first.6
In 2014, a Punjab couple were killed for marrying for love without the consent of their families. The bride's family then deceived them into a meeting with a promise of reconciliation, but tied them up and her father cut their throats. In another case, a week before, a local tribal council sentenced another couple to death, also for marrying for love; they appealed for police protection, but got no help. The newly-wed bride was abducted by her own family and shot. The family avoided court by forgiving themselves (which a victim's family is free to do, even when they're also the perpetrators).4.
In 2008, three teenage girls from the Baluchistan province were buried alive for attempting to chose their own husbands and shun the ones dictated to them by their families. They were first injured, and then buried; some also said that two older relatives intervened, but were killed and buried too. "Baluchistan government vehicles were used to abduct the girls, and the killing was overseen by a tribal chief who is the brother of a provincial minister from the ruling Pakistan People's party"2.
“In Pakistan's national parliament, an MP from Baluchistan, Israrullah Zehri, said on Friday that "this action was carried out according to tribal traditions", a view backed up by some other male lawmakers, who attacked a woman senator who had raised the case. "These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them," Zehri added.”
The Guardian (2008)2
In 2006, nine members of a Pakistani family in Denmark were sentenced to long prison sentences for orchestrated the murder of their own 19-year-old family member, for marrying without her family's approval. The killing was 'masterminded' by her own father (who received life imprisonment) and the murder was carried out by her older brother, with the active help of seven other family members. Pakistan has a severe problem with such honour killings, with thousands of women effected every year, but Denmark has only knowingly had 9 cases since the late 1980s.7
Until 2016, many who commit honour killings in Pakistan escaped justice, because it is customary for the family of the victim to forgive the killer. Commonly, the family doing the forgiving is comprised of the exact same people who committed the murder, but, judges generally still accepted the move8,9.
Large swathes of rural Pakistan suffer from a culture so utterly dominated by conservative male misogyny, given credence by Islamic traditions, that it is almost impossible for basic human rights, human dignity or freedom to be maintained. As long monsters like Israrullah Zehri have influence, Pakistan will continue to suffer. The result of incidents like the one in Denmark give Pakistani migrants have a very negative impression abroad, generating more of the prejudice and racism that itself makes integration harder.
#arranged_marriages #gender_prejudice #gender_violence #pakistan
In 2014 at least, public outcry against an honour killing led to a prison sentence. In general, much of the average populace in outside of the vast rural areas do find violence against women distasteful. Farzana Parveen, who was pregnant, was murdered in an honour killing by her father, brother and two cousins in the street outside the high court in Lahore, Pakistan. They were angry that she had married a man of her choice, rather than the man who they had chosen (who was also her cousin). The infamy of the case - occurring in a city in broad daylight instead of in a rural area - meant that the case was later brought to court and the four men were sentenced to 10 years in prison.10
Increasingly, judges (and the law) are finding way to enact prosecutions. Fauzia Azeem was drugged and then strangled by her brother in 2016, after a "well-known cleric" encouraged him; her crime was speaking out for women online, and having pictures online where she wasn't dressed conservatively enough8. The judge, in a rare move, overruled a loophole and insisted that the case was taken to court: her brother was sentenced to life in prison8. It's one of the small signs that amongst officials and the educated, some want things to change. Things did change.
In 2016, Pakistan's laws were tightened so that those who performed honour killings on their relatives could not escape prison via such a pardoning9. Islamist opposition was severe9; they had already stopped a similar law in 2005. This time, human rights campaigners saw a rare success for humanitarianism, and the law was passed9. Honour killings continue, but the threat of meaningful sentences will curb some of them, and, sends a progressive message to the medievalists.