The dread called honour killings

Pamelia Khaled | Published: June 28, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

'Honour killings' are on the rise in the Muslim countries including Canada. According to the United Nations Population Fund, approximately 5,000 women and girls are murdered every year in so-called honour killings around the world.
Why do conservative parents want to kill their own children? How and why do they fall in the trap of so called family honour, tradition and its ill practice and botch-up with their ideology and religious view? What made them so cruel instead of being loving parents? The killing of one's own child is happening with a girl, usually a daughter; the main reason is her behaviour has brought disgrace and embarrassment to the family. She is considered a shame for the family.
An overarching question arises as to who will educate the killers who kill their own children in the name of so called 'honour killings' if a country's mechanism and its law do not support enough women. Why women and children are not well protected after so many killings.
How are women being observed even in these modern days, in the traditional society in general? A woman is a person/an individual who has free will, whether a man believes it or not.
When will a gender -- blind father/brother/man/husband/son stand up for these destitute women? Is there any hope for women in this male chauvinist world?  How long will conservative Muslim men remain blind to the fault? Isn't it crucial to unmask fundamental Islam?
A traditional man, who patronises, disparages and always denigrates women in the belief that they are inferior to men. The veil of ignorance needs to be removed. But by whom? Absolutely by us, the thinkers, writers and social actors, as states cannot do it alone. So, how can we prevent 'honour killings'? We need to raise social awareness against 'honour killings', more protest, and more remonstration and perhaps a gender sensitive curriculum and quality education.  
As we know, Sati-dah Pratha (burning alive underage, child bride, young girls, adult woman or old woman with her dead husband) was an Indian Hindu custom. This brutal system had to be banned by making laws by the British government with the help of the then enlightened Indians.
A few hundred years back it was an established Indian social/religious custom. Raja Ram Mohan Roy is considered a social reformer, the pioneer of modern Indian Renaissance for remarkable social reforms in the 18th century India. He made a few efforts for social reform: the significant reform is the abolition of the Sati-dah Pratha - a practice in which the widow was forced to sacrifice herself on the funeral pyre (a heap of combustible materials such as wood and kerosene) of her deceased husband. His social reform efforts were also instrumental in abolishing the purdah system and child marriage in India partially.
It is time for the Muslim thinkers to raise their voice and stand up for their daughters/women and their wellbeing. When will women be free in the eyes of Muslims? There were enough examples in the past Muslim history such as Ayeshah, Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) wife, who worked as a leader in the Arab Muslim community. She was a decision maker and guide after Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) demise. Also in pre-British India, Razia Sultana proved her 'free will' and became the leader of her kingdom. Despite all these examples the mentality of conservative Muslims did not change even in 21st century. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) encouraged Arabian tribal communities to keep alive their daughters/girls and not bury them alive.
Of many stories, I am narrating only two: these two stories will tell where the status of women in the conservative Muslims' world is and how they evaluate the role of women or how a woman should be.
Story 1: Farzana Parveen's honour killing
The report on Farzana Parveen's honour killing was published by numerous   newspapers across the world on May 27, 2014. How much impact it will have on the barbaric social customs, until the state's policy is strong enough to take proper action to stop this brutal honour killing system. It is not enough to praise the way Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made a plain statement that the stoning to death of a woman by her family in front of a Lahore court was "totally unacceptable". Where is his commitment to save Pakistan's daughters and women? He must take steps and redesign his mechanisms to save women from the conservative group. While a father, head of the family, is not a protector any longer, the state needs to re-think about its role/function with reference to honour killings and any gender issue.
Farzana Parveen, a newly married young girl who was three months pregnant, was stoned to death by his relatives. An outrage provoked the father and relatives when Parveen had testified to police that she had married Iqbal on her own.
Her cruel inhuman father and her relatives planned for her stoning to death. In front of police and public she was battered brutally by relatives because she married against their wish. Her husband Iqbal told the BBC that police simply stood by during the stoning his wife though he screamed and asked for the assistance to save his wife.
Unfortunately, Lahore's police chief has completely refuted Iqbal's statement and commented that Parveen had already been killed by the time police had arrived at the scene.  
How does an elected government feel when there are hundreds of so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan each year? "As it is known, in Pakistan, where it remains fairly common, karo-kari was only recently outlawed, though "perpetrators are rarely brought to justice," said Cohen's report.
It is not enough asking for an investigation and preparing a report for taking action to the chief minister of Punjab province by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
There remains a daunting task for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other Muslim and Western leaders. What is it? All stakeholders and civil societies, Amnesty International and human rights agencies including the UN need collaboration to work on 'honour killings'.
We need to created public opinion and a social awareness programme at the grassroots level among the Muslim conservatives including those of the West. We need to educate them (Muslim conservatives) about what the religion of Islam is and what exactly its holy books say. We also need action to erase the notion about women's status from the conservatives' crippled, scrupulous, unhealthy minds.
Story 2: Honour killings
in Canada
Canada, a first world country, is known as a heaven for children and women's rights; but here also conservative men are taking advantage of living in a civilised society and successfully accomplishing their evil plan, namely "honour killing".
Due to ill practice of fatwa and so called Shariah law, rape victims, even underage girls, as well as women are accused of infidelity or pre-marital sex in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Venezuela, Peru, Egypt etc.
The honour killings are widespread in the Muslim countries. Even in Canada, this incident is also occurring very often. Currently in Canadian courtrooms cases are popping up frequently. The first-generation conservative Muslims/heads of the family, usually a father or sometimes both the parents, struggle to come to terms with their children's lifestyle in comparison with the strict, traditional ways. They find themselves to be in an unbalanced position meeting their children's social needs and aspirations, as girls want to fit into the liberal peer groups and modern society.
The report below is stated by Tobi Cohen of CANWEST service, 2014. Dr Amin Muhammad is a psychiatrist at Memorial University in St John's, NL, who is currently working on a report for the Federal Government about honour killings in Canada. He said there had been 13 such cases in the country since 2002. A few stories were reported by Cohen.
1. On June 16, the father and brother of a slain Mississauga, Ontario, teen were sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the December 2007 murder of Aqsa Parvez, a 16-year-old girl of Pakistani descent who wanted to wear western clothes and get a part-time job like her Canadian peers.
2. Days ago, an Afghan mother was arrested in Montreal, accused of stabbing her 19-year-old daughter after she stayed out all night in a case that's now being probed as a possible honour crime.
3. And then there was the case last year of Muhammad Shafia, his second wife, Tooba Muhammad Yahya, and their son, Hamed Shafia, accused of killing Shafia's first wife and three daughters, who were found in a vehicle submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ontario.
Dr Muhammad mentioned that there is an upward trend. More cases are coming to the.
In Cohen's report, Dr Muhammad mentioned that he suspects mental-health issues to be behind most cases. I disagree with this statement; this is not acceptable in the case of honour killings, as it is a social custom/culture, a tradition among the conservative Muslims. It cannot be stated simply as they are mentally ill or they have personality disorder. This sort of simplification about the perpetrators rather supports to save the killers and encourage more killings.
Dr Muhammad's 2008 report, which is a co-written one, also indicates that honour killings started back in ancient societies. According to Dr Muhammad's report, "Incan law allowed husbands to starve their wives as punishment for adultery, while the Aztecs permitted stoning or strangulation as punishment for such crimes". The above ancient stories thus prove that the 'honour killing' is a socially constructed concept, a social ill. With reference to honour killings in Canada, banning the practice of 'honour killings' is not enough. I suggest that all Muslim countries including Canada require a rigorous action. We need to develop awareness programmes against 'honour killings' at the grassroots level through public school curricula; local Muslim community leaders; and the local community organisations.
The writer is Doctoral Candidate in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and Research Assistant, University of Toronto and also Founder-President, Volunteer Association for Bangladesh Canada (VAB-Canada). Email: pamelia07@hotmail.com