The Brutal Lahore "Honor Killing"

The 25-year-old Pakistani woman, Farzana Parveen, who was bludgeoned to death outside the Lahore High Court by her family for marrying a man of her own choice, was dead by the time police were able to intervene. Parveen's husband, Muhammad Iqbal, has maintained that officers stood by as the attack took place. Meanwhile, Iqbal himself has admitted killing his first wife six years ago in order to marry Parveen. And allegedly, the dead woman's family killed her older sister by poisoning her some years ago in another "honor killing." Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was waiting outside the Court to answer questions in a case brought by her family, alleging that her marriage was a ruse because she had been kidnapped, a lie according to her and her husband. She was pelted with bricks and bludgeoned by relatives furious because she married against their wishes. In a report given to the chief minister of Punjab state on Friday, police say one of Parveen's relatives accosted her "several hundred feet" from the court premises and shot her in the shin. There was no police deployment in that area, the report says, but a police inspector happened to be nearby and managed to snatch away the gun. However, according to the police, a scuffle ensued between about 20 members of Parveen's family and 10 to 15 of Iqbal's, during which one of Parveen's brothers struck her with a brick three times, wounding her fatally. Police say one of Parveen's uncles, two of her cousins, and the driver who brought them to Lahore were arrested on Friday. Her father surrendered to police shortly after the killing. ~~~~~ Unfolding events since Farzana Parveen's murder on Tuesday have transformed a case of "honour killing" into a tale of love, greed and murder. There is the man who admits to having killed an earlier wife. Iqbal himself has admitted that he killed his first wife six years ago in order to be able to marry Parveen. Iqbal's son by his first marriage, Aurangzeb, told the BBC that relatives persuaded him to forgive Iqbal, enabling his release from prison under Pakistani law. "They said that my mother was gone anyway and would never return, and that I had two younger brothers to take care of," Aurangzeb said. "So if my father came back, our life would be much better. And he was my father after all. So I agreed," the son added. In addition, we have a dead woman who the police claim was already someone else's legally wedded wife - which would make her an adulteress under Pakistani law. This has not been confirmed. And, the father, brothers and cousins who are accused of murdering Parveen are also said to have killed a woman of the family before. Parveen's stepson says she had told him that her older sister had also been killed by the family. In that case the sister had reportedly refused to leave her husband. A police spokesman told the BBC they could not confirm this allegation, and there has been no comment from Parveen's family. ~~~~~ All of this reflects a deeply conservative society which tends to condone such crimes, and is helped by a set of Islamic laws dating from the 1980s that "privatise" murder as a crime against the individual instead of the state, and give the heirs of the victim the right to pardon the killer or accept "blood money" instead of legal action. There is also a Lahore High Court decision ruling that "honor killings" are not murder, in a 1980s case in which a murder conviction was overturned. So there is often minimal police interest in such cases and few successful prosecutions. This atmosphere of impunity probably encouraged Parveen's relatives to kill her in broad daylight. ~~~~~ There are hundreds of so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan each year. In 2013 alone, 869 women were murdered in so called "honour killings." Campaigners say the real number is likely to be much higher, with many such killings believed to be disguised as accidents, or not reported at all. Of the 2013 killings, 359 were so-called "Karo Kari" cases, whereby family members consider themselves authorised to kill offending relatives to restore honour. Rights groups say the conviction rate in cases of sexual and other violence against women is "critically low." The latest Parveen incident has prompted particular outrage, with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif describing it as "totally unacceptable." Arranged marriages are the norm in Pakistan, and to marry against the wishes of the family is unthinkable in many deeply conservative communities. After an urgent appeal for action from the prime minister, the police on Thursday night arrested Parveen’s uncle, two cousins and a driver employed by her family. They are accused of participating in a crowd of about 30 men, said to have been led by her father and two brothers, who surrounded Parveen, 25, as she was bludgeoned to death. Her father turned himself in - or was arrested - the same day the killing took place. Meanwhile, United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday strongly deplored the incident, urging the Pakistan government to do much more to prevent such killings : “I am deeply shocked by the death of Farzana Parveen, who, as in the case of so many other women in Pakistan, was brutally murdered by members of her own family simply because she married a man of her own choice. I do not even wish to use the phrase ‘honour killing’ : there is not the faintest vestige of honour in killing a woman in this way,” she added in a news release, which also noted that Pakistan has one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world. “Every year, hundreds of women are killed in Pakistan as a punishment for marrying a man their families have not chosen or for refusing an arranged marriage....The Pakistani Government must take urgent and strong measures to put an end to the continuous stream of so-called ‘honour killings’ and other forms of violence against women,” said Ms. Pillay. “They must also make a much greater effort to protect women like Farzana Parveen. The fact that she was killed on her way to court, shows a serious failure by the State to provide security for someone who - given how common such killings are in Pakistan - was obviously at risk.” The UN General Assembly, in three separate resolutions in 2001, 2003 and 2005, called on Member States to intensify legislative, educational, social and other efforts to prevent and eliminate “honour”-based crimes and to bring the perpetrators to justice. ~~~~~ Dear readers, this terrible story has reverberated around the world. One Pakistani minister described it as 'the government trying to pull Pakistan into the 21st century while others are trying to drag it back into the 8th century.' It is easy to say that this is just one more example of the violence against women prevalent in Moslem societies. But it is more. It is the preying upon ignorant and superstitious villagers by islamist extremists, such as the Taliban, who use ignorance as a tool to ensnare and subdue whole areas. It is also the result of Pakistan's government turning a blind eye to violence against women -- "honor killings," acid attacks, death or maiming by kerosene dousing and burning of brides and young wives whom husbands and their families don't like or whose families cannot pay the extra dowries demanded and who won't take their daughters back - again a matter of "honor." And so the young women are left to be burned alive. It is a gruesome culture that finds no value in women. Pakistan alone can turn the page on it. And today, a small step may have been taken. The Punjab State Prime Minister ordered the arrested family members to be tried in an anti-terrorist court with maximum possible penalties to be sought. Fear of the law is part of the equation. Educating girls and teaching young boys to respect women is another part. And a word to my American readers - it is also why an American presence in Afghanistan is so important. Without it, not only will the Taliban plot and carry out terrorist attacks. They will barbarically brutalize women and girls.