405 honour killings across Pakistan in 2024, confirms rights group

Islamabad, July 28 (IANS) The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) recorded at least 405 honour killings across the South Asian country in 2024 with most of the victims being women who were killed by relatives claiming to defend family honour, the local media reported on Monday.

Last month, a couple was shot dead on the orders of a local tribal council in Balochistan in a case of honour killing for marrying against the wishes of their families.

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had received widespread condemnation for making shameful comments about the Baloch community after a video of the horrific act went viral on social media.

Asif had instead blamed the Balochs, stating that "the ones responsible for this oppression are your own brothers".

Baloch activists had termed Khawaja Asif's statement as a "matter of regret and shame", stating that the minister, instead of acknowledging the Sharif government's incompetence regarding the incident and holding their government accountable for such heinous events caused by state lawlessness, public distrust in the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, and the unchecked proliferation of weapons, is instead trying to shift the burden of its failures onto others.

On Saturday, dozens of civil society members and rights activists staged a protest in Quetta, demanding justice and an end to parallel justice systems.

In another incident, Sana Yousuf, a young and widely followed Pakistani social media influencer, was recently shot dead at her residence in Islamabad by a relative, triggering widespread outrage and renewed focus on the country's persistent issue of honour killings.

Local media reports said that the popular content creator, originally from Upper Chitral, was killed at close range by a male relative who had come to visit her. He fled the scene immediately after the shooting.

Sana, a rising digital star with over four lakh subscribers across her social media platforms, sustained two bullets and died on the spot.

In a similar incident earlier this year, a man in Pakistan murdered his teenage daughter over her TikTok presence.

In that case, the family had recently moved from the United States to Pakistan, and the father initially tried to claim that unknown assailants were responsible before confessing.

The government outlawed honour killings in 2016 after the murder of social media star Qandeel Baloch, closing a loophole that allowed perpetrators to go free if they were pardoned by family members, Pakistani daily Express Tribune reported on Monday, adding that the enforcement remains weak, especially in rural areas where tribal councils still hold sway.

Constitutional lawyer Asad Rahim Khan told the newspaper that rather than enforcing the law, the Pakistani government has spent the past year weakening the judiciary and even considering reviving jirgas in former tribal areas.

"It's executive inaction, most shamefully toward women in Balochistan," Khan was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

--IANS

/as