Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that honour killing is an appalling act and his administration has prioritised women’s empowerment and end to violence against them in the country. He said that there is no honour in hounour killing while speaking at a special screening of a documentary of Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy at the PM Office. The premier expressed his firm resolve to build a progressive Pakistan by giving an equal status to women. He stressed that such customs and practices have no basis in religion and vowed to eradicate them, in addition to declaring women’s rights as a top priority of his government. The PM stressed that there was a serious need to change the mindset of society and he also said that a series of measures would be taken to increase awareness of this crime and persecute its perpetrators.
In our society crimes related to honour usually target only women. Particularly against those who go against the will and wishes of their families in matters related to marriage. Usually male members of the family most commonly the father or brothers consider that they have been shamed by the acts of women in their family.
If we put a glance on the statistics related to the honour killing in Pakistan, we would find a dismal condition. According to the data compiled by the United Nations there are annual 5000 cases of honour killings in the world and 1000 of those which is one fifth occur in our country. Some may argue about the authenticity of the report as rate of incidents related to honour killings are shown high. But even few cases of honour killing are a dilemma to deal with.
Government needs to bring anti-honour killing legislation to safeguard suffering women.