tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/qandeel-baloch-29531/articlesQandeel Baloch – The Conversation2022-03-03T11:34:21Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1771742022-03-03T11:34:21Z2022-03-03T11:34:21ZPakistan again faces questions over ‘honour’ killings as brother acquitted of social media star’s murder<p>The prevalence of <a href="https://theconversation.com/violence-in-the-name-of-honour-is-a-public-health-problem-not-a-cultural-one-70182">so-called “honour” killings</a> in Pakistan has increasingly been the subject of national debate. The perpetrators are husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, cousins, and in some cases, strangers hired by the victims’ families. And the reasons they give for their crimes include the women or girls having sexual relationships (actual or alleged), having a boyfriend, marrying without family consent, failing to prove virginity on their wedding night, being a victim of rape, leaving an abusive husband, using a mobile phone or posting a picture on Facebook. </p>
<p>After social media star <a href="https://theconversation.com/qandeel-baloch-stricter-pakistani-laws-have-not-deterred-honour-killings-62873">Qandeel Baloch</a> was murdered by her brother, Waseem Khan, in July 2016, a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/06/asia/pakistan-anti-honor-killing-law/index.html">landmark piece of legislation</a> was passed. The 2016 Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or pretext of Honour) Act was widely opposed by the country’s influential clerics for being <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/pakistani-parliament-passes-landmark-anti-honor-killing-bill/a-35983522">“anti-Islamic”</a>. The bill was nonetheless welcomed by the public and considered a step in the right direction.</p>
<p>In February 2022, however, a mere three years after Khan was convicted, the high court of Pakistan <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60388111">ordered his acquittal</a>. This has shocked the activists and public figures who have campaigned for justice for Baloch and marks a significant step backwards. </p>
<p>As my research shows, violence against women and girls, including murders in the name of honour, continues to be a <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2333205/20-rise-in-honour-killings-recorded">problem</a>. And the new 2016 law appears to have had little effect: ineffective implementation of that legislation and the resulting flawed trials have created a culture of impunity.</p>
<h2>Flawed trials</h2>
<p>The 2016 amendment mandates life imprisonment for those who kill women in the name of “honour”. It states that even if the victim’s parents pardon the killer, the murderer has to go to prison for 12 years. As Khan’s case demonstrates, however, there are loopholes that can be exploited. </p>
<p>Baloch was drugged and strangled to death at her family home in Multan in July 2016. Khan publicly confessed to the murder, citing the videos and photographs she had posted on social media as having brought dishonour to their family, and was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. </p>
<p>However, his lawyers used what is known as the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26899443">Qisas and Diyat law</a> to circumvent the new legislation. This legal mechanism allows victims’ families to voluntarily pardon or accept financial compensation from the perpetrators, which translates into a judicial acquittal. </p>
<p>Previous cases have had similarly concerning outcomes. On February 15, 2019 Sana Cheema’s father, brother and uncle <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47257309">were acquitted</a> by a Pakistani court. A district court judge acquitted the accused by declaring that there was a lack of “certain evidence”. Cheema, an Italian citizen, died in 2018 while visiting her family. It was reported in the Pakistani media that the police had alleged that the suspects had confessed to, and then retracted, an honour killing. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-55985-4_17">analysis</a> of the reports published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan shows that, between 2004 and 2016, 15,222 honour killings – 1,170 every year; 22 per week – were recorded. More recent statistics show that the problem persists. In 2021, 128 women <a href="https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/930710-karo-kari-claimed-176-lives-in-sindh-in-2021-study">were killed</a> in Sindh province, in the name of honour. And in <a href="https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/931530-in-the-name-of-honour-in-six-months-2-439-women-raped-9-529-kidnapped-90-killed-in-punjab">Punjab province</a>, between July and December 2021, 90 women were killed, 2,439 were raped and 9,529 women were kidnapped. </p>
<p>Nationwide, the numbers are likely much higher. <a href="https://shura.shu.ac.uk/7287/1/KARO_KARI_-THE_MURDER_OF_HONOUR_IN_SINDH_PAKISTAN_AN_ETHNOGRAPHIC_STUDY.pdf">Research shows</a> that honour killings are primarily perpetrated by family members and that as a result, people do not come forward to report incidents. Such disputes are instead settled outside of the court system. Further, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22338414/">in some segments</a> of society there is a level of support for the perpetrators: the criminality of these murders is not recognised within the social and cultural contexts in which they occur. </p>
<h2>Leadership failures</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2gFbFH0IdA">2020 interview</a>, prime minister Imran Khan <a href="https://images.dawn.com/news/1186134">criticised</a> the fact that Pakistanis are increasingly adopting what he called the “immoral mannerisms” of the west, saying that they are “chipping away at our traditional familial values and norms”. He has been preaching that Pakistan’s strength is its moral family system, which western values, promoted through Hollywood films, have negatively influenced. He pointed to rising divorce rates in Pakistan, which he said were following trends noted abroad, as an example of this negative influence.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/publication/documents/2019-07/economic-social-costs-violence-women-girls-pakistan-2019.pdf">Research</a> however shows that in Pakistan, the home is in fact a dangerous place for women. About 27% of women over the age of 15 report having experienced physical abuse inside their homes. Sexual violence, in particular, against women and girls <a href="https://www.ssdo.org.pk/_files/ugd/5668b5_a54565b5b5184139a93c7d4aa8869ba4.pdf">continues</a> to be a problem. </p>
<p>Despite this evidence, Khan blames the victims. In a 2021 interview, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/imran-khan-interview-womens-clothes-sexual-violence-b1869777.html">he said</a>, “Men are not robots, ladies wearing small clothes impact them,” thereby subscribing to a view long refuted by a significant body of research that shows that sexual violence is a consequence of perpetrators <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00338/full">dehumanising female bodies</a>. </p>
<p>To address violence against women and girls, in the name of honour or otherwise, we need stricter laws, thorough police training and better support structures for survivors of domestic abuse. But that will not be enough to stop it. </p>
<p>In the same way that the Hindu practice of <a href="https://airccse.com/ijhas/papers/1216ijhas08.pdf">sati</a> (conjugal self-immolation) in India and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2096305">foot binding</a> in China were outlawed through local movements, Pakistani society needs to change from within to alter the social structures and narratives that enable honour killings. The councils – village, tribal, and elders – that condone these crimes and settle the disputes that trigger them must be dismantled. Crucially, leadership at a national level is vital. Public figures who wield the kind of influence Khan does are able to make a massive difference by promoting women’s rights, if they choose to do so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sadiq Bhanbhro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite confessing to the murder of his sister, Qandeel Baloch in 2016, Waseem Khan has been acquitted by the Lahore High Court. The case has shocked activists campaigning against honour killings.Sadiq Bhanbhro, Senior Research Fellow on Public Health and Gender-Based Violence, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/701822017-01-10T10:14:28Z2017-01-10T10:14:28ZViolence in the name of ‘honour’ is a public health problem not a cultural one<p>The murder of Qandeel Baloch, a Pakistani social media celebrity, in July 2016 has given high-profile political attention to the issue of so-called “honour” killings. Her brother and three others <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-38210428">were indicted</a> in early December for her murder and await trial. </p>
<p>A tendency to label “honour” related violence – committed under the pretext of defending the supposed honour of a family or community – as a cultural issue rather than a crime can do more harm than good. In the UK, for example, there are reports that the Crown Prosecution Service may have avoided tackling such crimes <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/07/cps-afraid-to-tackle-honour-crimes/">for fear of</a> offending certain communities and cultures.</p>
<p>Instead, the scale of this kind of violence means it should be seen and treated as a public health problem. A 2009 <a href="http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/2/193">study</a> showed that one in five homicides in Pakistan may be killings of this nature. In 2000, the UN Population Fund <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/publications/state-world-population-2000">estimated</a> that at least 5,000 women and girls worldwide are murdered each year in the name of so-called “honour” – although these figures are contested and some researchers believe that the rates are at least four times higher. In the UK, the police <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33424644">recorded</a> more than 11,000 incidents of this kind of violence between 2010 and 2014. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/IJHRH-10-2015-0032">recent study</a>, my colleagues and I argued that the portrayal of this kind of violence in cultural and religious terms stigmatises certain communities. In turn, by presenting this kind of killings in this way, <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1907161/muslim-murder-sister-pakistan-honour-killing-marriage-christian/">media coverage</a> often distracts from the problem of violence and the larger political processes that shape it from being properly addressed. </p>
<p>In Pakistan, these kind of killings have been traditionally viewed as the problem of particular ethnic groups such as Sindhis and Balochs. For instance, the term <em>karo-kari</em> is a Sindhi-language expression which means black male-black female. This implies that the victim has blackened themselves by bringing dishonour to the family by engaging in illicit pre-marital or extra-marital relations. In Pakistan, the term is still predominantly used by print and electronic media to label such crimes, whether the incident occurred in Sindh province or elsewhere in Pakistan. Yet, killings of this sort occur across Pakistan. In <a href="http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/annual-report-2014/">2014, there were an estimated 19 killings a week</a> and are known by regional names such as <em>Kala-Kali</em> (Punjab), <em>Tor-Tora</em> (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and <em>Siyakari</em> (Balochistan).</p>
<p>Since 2002, with the emergence of private television and radio channels, the reporting of incidents has increased across Pakistan and <a href="http://hrcpmonitor.org/search/?id=5">it has also begun</a> to be documented as a Pakistani problem, not restricted to one particular ethnic group. This media coverage has raised awareness and debate about the issue.</p>
<p>There has also been a move in Pakistan to make sure this kind of violence is dealt with more stringently by the law. In October 2016, lawmakers in Pakistan <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1288177">approved new legislation</a> to tighten the punishments available. Prior to the bill, perpetrators often walked free because they could seek pardon for the crime from another family member. <a href="https://theconversation.com/qandeel-baloch-stricter-pakistani-laws-have-not-deterred-honour-killings-62873">Under the new law</a>, relatives of the victim can only pardon the killer from the death penalty, but they would still face a compulsory life sentence of 12-and-a-half years.</p>
<h2>More than culture</h2>
<p>Honour has been a central concept across societies throughout history. It has been attributed as an underlying reason of horrible types of violence, for example, duelling in England, foot binding in China and wife burning (<em>sati</em>) in India. But these horrific forms of violence were not seen through a cultural lens when they were outlawed. Instead, they were tackled through political, social and legal measures driven by “moral revolution”, as the philosopher Kwame Appiah <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Honor_Code_How_Moral_Revolutions_Hap.html?id=-dBqwJO8ZZsC&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y&hl=en">has explained</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151704/original/image-20170104-18653-qur4qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151704/original/image-20170104-18653-qur4qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151704/original/image-20170104-18653-qur4qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151704/original/image-20170104-18653-qur4qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151704/original/image-20170104-18653-qur4qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151704/original/image-20170104-18653-qur4qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151704/original/image-20170104-18653-qur4qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Definitions are key.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">TungCheung/shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>Violence against women and girls is a widespread problem in all societies around the world – but its manifestations differ widely according to place, time and context. For instance, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/07/men-killed-900-women-six-years-england-wales-figures-show">recent census figures</a> show 900 women were killed by men in six years in England and Wales. These killings are not tagged with any particular culture or community. </p>
<p>In the UK, the police watchdog <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/our-work/so-called-honour-based-violence/">defines</a> violence committed under the pretext of “honour” in cultural and religious terms – but this creates hurdles to tackling this problem and makes it into a highly sensitive issue. An emphasis in definitions on “religious and cultural beliefs” <a href="http://www.londonscb.gov.uk/files/resources/cpp/crimes_of_the_community.pdf">makes the issue peculiar</a> to certain groups and communities, particularly Muslims and black communities. </p>
<h2>Finding a solution</h2>
<p>If we assign an incorrect definition to a problem, ultimately the solution will be inexact, so framing a problem in the right way is an essential step towards tackling it. Violence against women committed by men using any excuse – “honour” or otherwise – is related to the socio-economic and political structures of society. As Nafisa Shah, a Pakistani lawmaker, argued in a <a href="http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/ShahHonour">recent book</a>: “Violence is not cause, function or effect of ‘honour’ but merely draws its legitimacy from it.” </p>
<p>Presenting violence of any sort as a cultural issue does not help prevent it. Other, more practical ways are required to analyse its nature, roots and spread. A <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/ph_app_violence-a.pdf">public health approach</a> to the issue could include creating a definition of the problem that is unprejudiced and inclusive. This is because if it is seen as problem that can affect anybody, rather than just one part of a community it will be treated more seriously by the police, judiciary, social and healthcare professionals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sadiq Bhanbhro does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Presenting violence of any sort as a cultural issue does not help prevent it.Sadiq Bhanbhro, Researcher on Public Health and Gender-Based Violence, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/628732016-07-22T12:40:27Z2016-07-22T12:40:27ZQandeel Baloch: stricter Pakistani laws have not deterred honour killings<p>Qandeel Baloch, a Pakistani social media celebrity, was killed on July 16 2016. Her brother, Waseem Azeem, was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-36818507">arrested the next day</a>, confessing to the murder in the name of honour. </p>
<p>Public opinion about her death <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/qandeel-baloch-s-death-takes-twitter-by-storm-pakistan-sees-mixed-reactions-116071600415_1.html">is polarised</a>. A section of Pakistani society <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1271313">condemned</a> the murder of “an independent woman”. Others voiced support for the killing of – to put it in generic terms – a non-conformist with outspoken views on social media. Many others have remained apathetic. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"753671989127249920"}"></div></p>
<p>Honour killing is a significant social problem in Pakistani society and is on the rise. A recent <a href="http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/hrcp-annual-report-2015/">report</a> from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan found that 1,096 women were the victims of honour crimes in 2015, up from 1,005 in 2014 and <a href="http://www.upi.com/Human-rights-group-reports-rise-in-honor-killings-in-Pakistan/51429857038598/">869 in 2013</a>. Victims include both men and women but female victims far outnumbered male victims.</p>
<h2>Getting away with murder</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/1860/actXLVof1860.html">Pakistani Penal Code</a> incorporates two kinds of law – <em>qisas</em> (the Islamic fixed law of life for a life) and <em>tazir</em> – where the court has a discretion as to the amount of punishment. These are both a key part of the way the penal code is constructed. </p>
<p>Until just under ten years ago, the legal treatment of honour killing was <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ujwLunL_rrQC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=warraich+honour+killings+and+the+law&source=bl&ots=yYXnpDBin8&sig=mg9r7OZLE1d_QMaxlk68g_heVIA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYycSO1IbOAhVoD8AKHco6D7kQ6AEIJDAB#v=onepage&q=warraich%20honour%20killings%20and%20the%20law&f=false">a grey area</a> and it was possible for perpetrators to get away with a murder in the name of honour or get a light sentence. Courts handed down light sentences because the perpetrators claimed that they were provoked by the “immoral or sexual behaviour” of the victims and somehow they were partly to be blamed for their own deaths.</p>
<p>Courts accepted the element of “provocation” as a mitigating circumstance. Perpetrators could also easily get away with honour-based murder because they were forgiven by the heirs of the victim under <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Application_of_Islamic_Criminal_Law.html?id=88-XutlkJAQC&redir_esc=y"><em>qisas</em> law</a>. </p>
<p>As the perpetrators of honour killings happen to be close relatives – parents, brothers, uncles and sometimes the whole family is involved – the victim’s heirs would were unlikely to want to send their close relative to prison or face a death sentence. So their crimes were forgiven.</p>
<h2>Changes to the law</h2>
<p>All this <a href="http://www.af.org.pk/pub_files/1366345831.pdf">changed</a> in 2004 when a new scheme of law was introduced. An amendment introduced to the penal code (section 302) now treats killing in the name of honour as murder punishable with death under qisas. </p>
<p>Honour-based murder was also then made punishable with the death penalty or life imprisonment under <em>tazir</em> law. But a murder which is judged not to be honour-based is still treated as a compoundable offence under qisas, meaning heirs of the victim may forgive the perpetrator or accept blood money subject to judicial approval – although not if the heir happens to be the perpetrator himself. </p>
<p>Under the amended law, parties in honour-based killings still retain their right of compromise and forgiveness under <em>qisas</em> but crucially it must be assessed by the court to ensure that the interests of justice are not defeated and that the rights of any children are protected. </p>
<p>Another amended part of the penal code, section 311, now also treats honour-based murder as what’s called <em>fasad-fil-arz</em> (mischief on earth) which is a crime against the state that cannot be forgiven by an heir. So if the prosecution reaches a conclusion that a murder is honour-based, the state is required to prosecute perpetrators under section 311 which allows the court to hand down the death penalty or life imprisonment.</p>
<p>So the effect of the 2004 law is derived from a mixture of both <em>qisas</em> and <em>tazir</em> law. Under <em>qisas</em> law, a perpetrator does not enjoy the benefit of forgiveness if he himself happens to be the heir of the victim. Forgiveness by other heirs is allowed but the court must be satisfied that forgiveness is in the interests of justice. But under <em>tazir</em> law, if the prosecution considers a murder to be honour-based, it will be caught by the <em>fasad-fil-arz</em> principle and the perpetrator may be prosecuted. </p>
<p>In principle, this means that if a court judges that a murder was not honour-based, it means that the murder could be forgiven by an heir, but if it is judged to be honour-based then it can be forgiven, by an heir, only with the court’s approval. </p>
<h2>Making the law a deterrent</h2>
<p>Baloch’s brother [confessed](http://www.dawn.com/news/1271391/strangled-qandeel-after-drugging-her-brother-confesses?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dawn-news+(Dawn+News) to the police who are treating the murder as honour-based. Her parents, who are her natural heirs, have <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-36859756">spoken out</a> against her killing. Even if they forgive their son, it is unlikely that the court would accept this as it would amount to letting him get away with her murder. </p>
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<p>Under Pakistani law, then, Azeem could face either the death sentence or life imprisonment. </p>
<p>While a clear law against honour-based murder exists in Pakistan, it has so far <a href="http://www.af.org.pk/pub_files/1366345831.pdf">not proved</a> to be an effective deterrent for these crimes, as their rise since the laws were introduced in 2004 suggests. Perhaps more education and public awareness of women’s human rights, together with the stringent application of the law on Pakistan’s statute, might help in reducing the incidence of honour-based murders.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niaz Shah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What the law in Pakistan says about honour killings.Niaz Shah, Reader in Law, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.