Man axed to death in another honour killing, wife injured

In yet another incident of honour killing, the husband was axed to death and his wife injured as the in-laws attacked their house in the Dad Leghari area of Ghotki, reported 24NewshHD TV channel on Thursday.

The couple had tied knot seven months against the wishes of the girl’s family members who – her brothers and other relatives – barged into their house and carried out the brutal act.

Another tragic part of the story is that neither the injured girl could be shifted to hospital nor the area police reached the crime scene by the time this report was filed. However, the killers managed to flee the scene easily after committing the crime.

In a similar incident, three people were gunned down over a marriage dispute in Shikarpur on May 26, showing that our society continues to revolve around 3Zs – Zun, Zar, Zameen (Woman, Money, Land) even in the 21st century.

Ghotki and Shikarpur located in upper Sindh are part of the region which is notorious for karo-kari – the term used in Sindh for such killings – and murders of tribal disputes.

It is a terrible fact that honour killings in our part of the world have become synonyms as 24NewsHD TV channel reported earlier on May 20 that 25 women were killed in Ghotki district in the name of family honour during the last one year.

Despite the opening of schools in far-flung areas and the increase in literacy rate, this unending trend of honour killings shows that there is no change in social attitudes in Pakistan which is reflected in incidents of honour killings reported in media. And the actual situation is even worse as many deaths either go unreported or are closed without proper investigation.

If we look at the official figures, the Sindh Police in February this year in a study revealed that a total of 769 people, including 510 women, had been killed in the province during the past five years.

And most disturbing part is that the conviction rate stood at a mere two percent against the acquittal rate of 20.9 percent.

This pathetic conviction rate obviously encourages the tribal elders and family members to pass such orders, knowing that they would not face any consequences.

But the honour killings are widespread across the country. In a latest incident, two girls were killed in Waziristan over an old video clip that went viral on social media recently. Later, the two killers were arrested – father of one of the girls and brother of the other.

Meanwhile, these killings were instigated by a tribal elder who had asked the people in a social media post to eliminate the two.