Honor Killing

HONOR KILLING –“No Honor in Killing”

In Pakistan and around the world, crimes against women in the name of honor have been occurring for long time but the level of exposure and coverage given to such crimes was not there until a decade ago. One does not find any discussion or usage of the term “Honor” or “Honor Killing” in the Print or Electronic Media 15 or 20 years back.
I could find only a couple of articles written about honor killings just in the beginning of the 90s. Then, from 1995 onwards, almost every newspaper and magazine in English or other local languages started giving attention on this issue. Women/Human Rights NGOs took the lead to expose this heinous crime in Pakistan and in other Muslim countries. Up to now, Exposure has been more in journalistic a manner; mainly narration of stories from the fields, coverage of crime scene and documentation of the legal cases regarding the punishment of the crimes of Honor. In a very simplistic manner, patriarchal culture and misogynistic customs have been heavily blamed for Honor Killings. Very rarely attention has been paid to the material forces at work behind such crimes against women. Very rarely the question has been asked that which forces have shaped the patriarchal culture and misogynistic customs in different parts of the world.
Honor related crimes are multi-faceted. The motives are multi-dimensional and the contexts in which crimes occur are very complex. I have tried to develop a focused list of different patterns and contexts of the crimes in and around Pakistan. By sifting and synthesizing the available media coverage, reports and case studies prepared by the human rights NGOs and by working with the women in shelters, who survived after murder attempts and fear death as soon as they come out of the shelters.
Honor Killings
Honor Killing which is a compound word consisting of two words integral to an individual’s life. One sets the course of action to be followed throughout the individual’s life where as the other predicts and symbolizes the end of the one’s life. The term Honor is relative, as different individuals belong to various cultures, each following different societal traditions and customs. Honor literally means high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence.
Honor in English language (Honos, Honoris, In Classical Latin), while Izzat, Namoos, Ghairat in Arabic, Turkish and Persian languages respectively, have similar meanings; respect, esteem, prestige. Back in the history and even today, every society has defined these terms in its own socio-economic and cultural contexts. Originally, Honor has been a gender neutral term. No dictionary labels it as female respect or prestige. In the process of definition of Honor, engendered it and it became male attribute. When in the distant past did honor, Izzat, Namoos and Ghairat get engendered? This question requires a separate research study.
Men are the sole possessors and defenders of Honor. Honor is considered purely a male attribute now. Honor is a dialectical term and its opposite is shame (shame is actually loss of honor). Men are the main sufferers of shame. Where do women stand in this honor/shame in this schema? Do women not possess honor or suffer shame, and they can only bring Honor/Shame? How? By obeying the dictated norms of the family and community they can make men of the family proud, respectable and honorable. Women bring shame by challenging and rebelling the dictated norms. The concept of Honor is deeply related with woman’s body, sexuality and expressions of her desires, behaviors and acts. To discipline and control this, patriarchal institution of family constructs the borders and defines limitations of woman space. “Crime of Honor is an act which can occur when any of the borders are crossed” says a feminist scholar from Arab World.
I started collecting data with some presumptions in my mind. That married women are killed only due to having or on the suspicion of extra-marital relationship (adultery) and young unmarried women are killed mainly due to the pre-marital sexual engagements (fornication). But I have come up with the concept that Honor killings are not just related to the sexual behavior of women or disobedience issue, there are many other factors involved in killings of women. There are numerous economic factors. I have found dozens of cases where sexuality of woman was not the issue at all, where mainly property and mercenary motives were involved but woman was killed under the pretext of Honor.

The Supreme Court has decreed that an 18-year old Pakistani Girl can marry a man of her own choice, but traditional values continue to militate against any court decisions. The state is conspiring with the most reactionary and retrogressive elements to drive out the liberal aspects of Religion. And so it goes on and on.
Let’s look the typology of victims, murderers and the contexts of murderers to explore some other motives behind the honor murders besides the motives of sexual rebellion.
Who are the Victims? * Wives (Present or Ex) * Daughters (Unmarried) * Sisters (Unmarried) * Nieces (Unmarried) * Mothers (Widowed or Divorced)
Who are the Murderers? * Husbands (Present or Ex) * Fathers * Brothers * Uncles (Mostly Paternal) * Sons
What are the reported Contexts/charges? * Adultery (Extramarital Affairs) * Fornication (Premarital Affairs) * Rape (Unmarried daughters/sisters/nieces) * Rebellion (of wives by demanding divorce) * Assertion (of daughters by asking to marry the man of their choice) * Defiance (of daughters by refusing to marry the man of their Parent’s choice)

In the light of above mentioned Victims/Murderers/Contexts, I have divided honor related crimes in the following categories: 1. Crimes of passion; Crimes committed by the men who have intimate relationship with the victim. The men who are socially and religiously allowed to have sexual interaction with the murdered women (Husbands). 2. Crimes committed by the blood relatives, here murderers are the men who are not allowed to have sexual interaction with the murdered women (Father, Son, Brother, Uncle). Both of the types of Crimes need some more explanation of the contexts in which murders are committed. Crimes of Passion are such crimes which are committed only due to woman’s adulterous relationship and they are committed in the fit of anger, jealousy, rivalry or rejection (Mostly happens in Western Culture). But in Pakistan wives are not only murdered due to passions, jealousy, anger, there are many other factors involved when a husband murders a wife in Pakistan or in South Asia.
Here it’s important to write about very peculiar, strange and brutal kind of custom called Karo-Kari, which is taking lives of hundreds of women in Pakistan. What is Karo-Kari? Karo is a black man and Kari is a black woman, black refers to morally corrupt. It’s highly ritualized form of women killing. To declare a woman Kari there has to be a Karo always but in 90% of the cases its woman who is killed, man either escapes or bargains his life by paying money. Woman has neither money to pay nor road to run away. There is no funeral prayer or final bath for the woman killed as being Kari. No one is allowed to cry over her dead body. There have been found separate grave yards for Kari woman even.
Lately patterns have changed in the custom of Karo-Kari too. Before, mostly, wives were declared Kari now any woman of the family can be accused Kari immediately after the murder. Following are the few situations in which women are declared Kari: 1. When a man kills a man of the enemy tribe to take some revenge, he would kill his wife and declare her as Karo-Kari. This declaration will help him to get mitigation in the punishment and the village will look him with respect. In such cases woman has never seen the man with whom she is declared Kari. 2. Pressing Economic needs and increasing material greed mainly due to the globalization process, has entered into the rural areas of Pakistan. It has deadly consequences for women. To become rich overnight, women of the family are being used. Husbands declare their wives with any rich man of the village; accused man is only pardoned if he pays money and woman is killed as money is extracted. Two-pronged on-slaugh. 3. In villages where men pay price to get bride, situation is worst for women. Once sold to a man they can’t ask for divorce if he abuses her. She becomes man’s property. If she protests, she is not divorced and not sent back to her parents because parents have nothing to do with her after selling her off into marriage. If she still protests, she is killed in the name of Kari! 4. Mother-in-law factor is heavily involved in many cases. When she can’t get along with her daughter-in-law, she would create suspicions in the mind of her son and spread rumors in the village about daughter-in-law’s bad character. She provokes her son to declare his wife Kari with someone rich or rival in the village and kill her. These examples are more common in the places where brides bring a heavy dowry.
In nutshell, there are strong material foundations and mercenary motives of violence against women and we have to identify and suggest strategies to eliminate such violence.
Is women’s virginity and purity the only issue behind her murder? Or some other material interests are at stake? Most of the studies conclude that more than 80% of murders are committed due to property, class and caste interests. Here it’s important to have cursory glance at the pattern of arrangements of marriages in Pakistan. More than 90% of marriages are arranged marriages and majority of those are forced ones. There is no institution of dating or concept of mixing of the opposite sexes for social activities. Family men are the sole decision makers about the marriage of their younger ones. Dowry is the central issue in the whole schema of arranged marriage institution. * In the rural areas of Pakistan, especially among the land owing class, daughter’s marriage is a well-calculated affair. To keep the property together, marriages are arranged within the family on exchange basis. In such cases, if daughter or sister doesn’t want to marry the person chosen by the family men, she has to meet dire consequences. Her defiance results in her death. * If she shows interest to get married to someone against the wishes of the family men, trouble starts. If she is determined to assert her right and gets married through the civil court, she has to face death. * In the areas where bride’s price is set, young girls of age 12 to 14 are sold to the men of 60 or 70 year’s age just due to the high price. If young girl protests or runs away to avoid marriage she is murdered for being disobedient. * If widowed father aged 60-70 years get married second, third or fourth time it doesn’t matter for sons, but if widowed/divorced mother want to remarry for her own security, she has to face wrath of the sons. Sons want her to stay dependant on them and if she propertied person, in case of her death they would get everything.
In all the situations mentioned, the factor of Honor provides just a cover. Behind each murder are the material forces at work. The term Honor is used to invoke the article of Sudden Provocation in the Pakistan Penal Code for the mitigation of the punishment.
Rape; it’s a very complicated issue in the whole scenario of Honor Killings. An unmarried raped girl is killed in more than 95% of cases by her own family men. Her body is responsible for bringing shame on the men of the family. Murder happens usually in the cases when incident of rape is leaked out in the community, otherwise family would try to cover it by remaining silent and not reporting the crime to the police. Sometimes, revenge is sought quietly by murdering the culprit later on or by raping the woman of the culprit’s family. What if man of the family rapes another family’s woman? He is not supposed to be killed even if the incident leaks out in the community! The whole family including females would try to protect him from any kind of punishment. Blood bondage doesn’t disappear in the cases of male member’s sexual behavior and character, but blood bondage disappears when similar act and behavior is shown by the female of the family. Why? The honor/shame issue does not provoke them to the extent to take any action against the sexual behaviors and character of the male members of the family.
Why male blood is thought to be precious than that of female? Again, there are strong material foundations for such norms and notions in South Asian Culture. All those societies where Honor Killings are common are dominantly patrilineal or patrilocal. Family bondage and kinship status is dependent on who is the person’s father. Genealogy is traced through the male side. Property is inherited and descent is traced in the father’s side. Consequently, power is in the hands of men. These factors have given birth for Son preference and consequently lowered status of women.

From Matriarchy to Patriarchy
Through the recent research, the theory of matriarchal society; as being the first sign of any organizational effort towards forming societies has become controversial but most widely accepted intrigues most. According to social scientists and anthropologist including Marijas Gimbutas and Lucy Goodison; formation of society came into existence when the female was responsible for breeding.
Bachofen and Johann Jakob in his “Das Mutt erect”, published in 1861, demonstrated that marriage, family and kinship took different forms in different societies. He postulated an evolutionary sequence of primitive promiscuity leading to matriarchal and finally patriarchal forms of social organization. He puts forward a theory that before Matriarchy there had been, in the history of each society a state of sexual promiscuity with no stable family life. Thus each society evolved through three phases; promiscuity, matriarchy and patriarchy.

A would give birth and the offspring was recognized by woman who gave birth to the offspring. Like in the cases of all mammals the child fed on the mother’s milk till he grew up and in which case the mother fed the child from what she ate. As there existed no concept of marriage, like all the mammals and polygamy was predominant. The earliest society consisted of hunters and speech was not an integral form of communication. As the females of the society were the main breeders and there was no way of knowing for sure which female was carrying which male’s offspring in her womb, the males realized the need for recognition and security for their contribution. The females mated with the males most desirable to them. The factors may have been numerous and various but the most common included the male’s ability to hunt, provide food, and communicate and ability to come up with effective tools to be used in everyday life. As in the case of all other mammals, female are the protector, breeder and the offspring will often stay with the mother till they become independent. The male’s only part is to provide the female with the seed of future offspring. According to Bachofen’s “Mother Right“, theory of matriarchal society sprang from the natural and biological association of mother and child. The Mother Right led to women rulers, individual marriage, and unregulated sexuality; eventually it created a “civil rule by women”.
The history of Family dates from 1861, from the publication of Bachofen’s “Mutt erect” (Mother Right and Matriarchate) in this work the author advances the following proportions. 1. Originally man lived in a state of sexual promiscuity, to describe that Bachofen used a mistaken term “Hetaerism”, which refers more to prostitution, confirming the belief that prostitution is immoral, merely an idea evolved to further strengthen the bindings for a woman to belong to one man only. 2. Such promiscuity excludes any certainty of paternity and that descent could therefore be reckoned only in the female line, according to mother right, and this was originally the case amongst all the people of antiquity. 3. Since women, as mothers, were the only parents of the younger generation that were known with certainty, they held a position of such high respect and honor that it became the foundation in Bachofen’s conception of a regular rule of women (Gynaecocracy). 4. The transition to monogamy, where the woman belonged to one man exclusively involved a violation of a primitive religious law (actually a violation of the traditional right of the other men to his women) and in order to expiate this violation or to purchase indulgence of it, the woman had to surrender herself for a limited period.
After Bachofen, Mclennan further developed the theory of conversion of the society from matriarchy to patriarchy. The females, the mothers of all those that lived at the time, began to belong to one man for a period of time before moving to another based on the extent of capabilities the male had. Before the much desired appropriation of a family system, there existed a savage custom of female infanticide that resulted in a surplus of men in each individual tribe, of which the inevitable and immediate consequences would be that several men possessed a wife in common (polyandry). And this would have the further consequence that it would be known who was the mother of a child, but not who its father was; hence relationship only in the female line with exclusion of the male line, “Mother Right”. Second consequence of the scarcity of women within a tribe, a scarcity which polyandry mitigated but did not remove, was precisely the systematic, forcible abduction of women from other tribes.
Till this time Matriarchy was dominant and the descent was traced through the woman. But somewhere along the way man began to share the load and responsibility and finally the credit by pressing the need for one woman to remain with one man. This process ended in the men assuming power and status in the primitive society.
Anthropologists believe that the matriarchal system of the aboriginal society functions as the rationalization of the contemporary male dominance. The universality of male dominance is not however, natural or biological because the form of, and reasons given for, patriarchy differ in most cultures. Through studying the various ways that male dominance is organized and justified, anthropologists have concluded that it is culturally constructed.

Family Patterns in the Subcontinent
The class hierarchy of the extended families among the Rajputs has been replicated within the many castes and sub-castes within the subcontinent. That is, a highest-ranking caste sets a pattern of family behavior which is emulated by other castes (also Muslims and Christians) in the locality or region. Among the Rajputs the purity of the male lineage, father to son, is a highest value consistently protected. Systematic suppression of female sexuality is the patriarchal method for maintaining male-lineage purity. The sexuality (physical beauty, demeanor, manners and skills) of a female may be her means of self expression (thus a part of her power relative to others, particularly males). This sexuality is suppressed by family institutions, disempowering females. Although more extreme in India, the struggles of female to circumvent such disempowerment in Western Patriarchal families have been a familiar plot central in countless novels in the West. In South Asian countries every opportunity for expression of each female’s sexuality, excepting only in her husband’s bed, is circumscribed or denied.
All the marriages are arranged marriages by family elders; girls are seldom allowed any role in these negotiations. Maintaining and improving the class status of the family is seen as the central goal of each marriage plan. the maintenance of her husbands family line is the brides opportuniyt and destiny. The arranged marriages of the royal and other high ranking families of Europe generally had this family power function.
The basic marriage rule; is outside of family and within the case in some cases. The critical problem in marriage arrangements flows from the need to maintain or improve the class standing of the extended family. If a daughter should be married into a family lower in the calls ranking, the daughter's birth in that family, loses the status. On the other hand, a son may marry down provided the bride's family can afford a large dowry. In as much as class ranking is based on the somewhat interchangeable elements of wealth and social power, a significant infusion of wealth into the groom's extended family could maintain or even improve a family's class ranking.
After marriage, the bride moves into the household of her husband. The daughter in law arrives as the least significant member of her new family-an obedient slave to her husband and his family. As an outsider in her new extended family she may be denied female support, and she can exercise influence in family decisions only through the intervention of her husband acting on her behalf. Even here she is disempowered. Husbands are discouraged from forming affectionate bonds with their wives-such attachments diminish a husband's allegiance to the family patriarch and attention to his first responsibility-the extended family.
Years may pass before the bride's status may be secured by the birth of sons bonded to her and acting on her behalf. Before puberty, daughters are helpful to mothers, but at marriage their value to their natal household disappears as they devote themselves to their husband's welfare, producing sons for the benefit of his family lineage and caring for his parents. Anthropologists have a word for this disempowering family structure, hyper gamy-brides marrying socially and economically upward within caste into mere esteemed extended families requiring compensation for what would otherwise be a misalliance.
The pattern of living and the customs, which have been followed generation after generation of surviving the times, in the past during battles and wars the Rajputs wives used to be slain, killed before the Rajputs husbands went in for battles fearing that in case they didn’t return their wives would then be prone to dishonoring their husbands with other men.

Custom of “Sati”
Time has seen the flourishing of traditions and customs that bind women. Another example of traditional rituals and customs, Sati (In India, A Hindu Custom), which portrays the women as a lesser “breed” who must prove her loyalty and virtuousness to her husband who is the owner of her soul and body thus, her life.
“Sati” means a virtuous woman. A woman who dies burning herself on her husband’s funeral fire was considered most virtuous, and was believed to directly go to heaven, redeeming all the forefathers rotting in hell, by this meritorious act. The woman who committed Sati was worshipped as Goddess, and temples were built in her memory.
The first known example of “Sati” came from the 6th century A.D, when King Raviverma’s Wife committed Sati after his death. The practice of Sati originated due to the traditional status of a widow, with the death of her husband, her status as wife, a daughter, a sister etc was lowered because of the popular and accepted belief that once a woman is married is married she belongs solely to her husband and on his death, her life shall take a swift turn towards her waiting to meet the only symbol of her being alive which was her husband.

A little description of Historical Events: * 908- A.D: First documented instance of Sati Heggadetomma’s widow Balakka went “Sati” * 1510 A.D: Portuguese traveler Barbosa visited the Vijayanagar Empire and witnesses Sati prevalent in the Kshatriya community. * 1623 AD: Italian traveler Pietro-Della Valle’s account of a Sati ritual at Ikkeri, present day Madhya Pradesh. * 1805 AD: Dewan Purnayya in Mysore Court of Wodeyars gave consent to a Brahman widow to undergo Sati (This is historically rare instance of an upper caste woman undergoing Sati). * 1987 AD: Roop Kanwar, a young widow went Sati in the state of Rajasthan, stirring a social debate on the topic. People who assisted her in suicide are arrested. But Roop Kanwar is idolized and attains a deity status. As by the year 1828, the British Government in United India had banned the practice. * 1996: the Indian Court upholds the suicide as a social tradition and frees the relatives who assisted Roop Kanwar. * 2002: Kuttu Bai, a 65 years widow committed suicide in the state of Madhya Pradesh. * On 18th May 2006, Vidyawati, a 35-year-old woman allegedly committed sati by jumping into the blazing funeral pyre of her husband in Rari-Bujurg Village, Fatehpur district in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Custom of Satta Watta:
In December 1998m the English Daily, DAWN reported the case of a murder in the name of honour, which involved the customs of Satta-Watta marriages, which involve exchange of siblings, put an additional burden on women to abide by their father’s marriage arrangements.
“Shaheen” was allegedly set on fire by her husband Anwar in Gujjarpur in December 1998 in a Satta-Watta context. Their marriage had run into trouble. Anwar wanted to send Shaheen back to her parents, Shaheen’s brother, married to Anwar’s sister, refused to send his wife home as well. Anwar found no other way to remove his shame than kill his wife (Dawn, 16Dec1998).
Honor Killings for those seeking Divorce:
Marriage is a gamble, and the decision to stay within the failed or even abusive marriage is decision which is too often force upon the couple. But in the most of cases if the women due to social pressure, and to avoid the taboo of divorcee, women tend to stay within the marriage. And if the pain of the failing marriage becomes unbearable, those who seek divorce through the courts either face great discrimination and disappointment by the legal system and quite a few have been recorded to have been attacked, injured or killed. Seeking divorce is considered an act of public defiance that calls for punitive action to restore the so called Honor of the male members of the family within the traditional setting.
One such case occurred on 6th April 1999, 29-years old Samia Sarwar, a mother of two young sons, was shot dead in her lawyer’s office in Lahore. She was murdered apparently because her mother and her husband’s mother or sisters and Samia’s attempt to divorce a husband she described to her lawyer as severely abusive, was seen to shame the family. In the 10 years of her marriage Samia had suffered high levels of domestic violence.

The KAARI
The Kari even after death remains a disgrace for the family as well as the community. After her death a proper burial is forbidden, and her body is thrown away in the nearby river or secretly left and rarely is buried unless in a special Kari graveyard. There she remains forever. Nobody mourns for them or honours their memory by performing the relevant rites. The Karo on the other hand are reportedly buried in the communal graveyard.
Unable to escape forced marriage or violence, some women resort to suicide, driven to resort to the most extreme form of violence against them. No official figures of women’s suicides exist and many women must be assumed to be simply buried to cover up the possible damage to the family’s honor. Occasionally, however, they come to light. On 29th March 1999, an 18-year old college girl, Qaisrana Bibi, committed suicide in Khanpur when her parents put pressure on her to marry a man she did not want. She lay across a rail track where a train crushed the young woman. Again on 5th March 1999, a young woman in Rajjar village near Charsadda shot her dead when the date of her marriage to a man she did not like was announced. The village elders and the parents of the girl refused to hand over the dead body to police for a post mortem as the suicide was a disgrace to the family. Suicide is an offence under Pakistan Law, hence in need of investigation, including a postmortem. Police did not paid attention to the abetment by family members or the community to women committing suicide. Suicide becomes the last resort especially for females who have far fewer opportunities than men to carry on a normal life after their family has turned against them.
In a great many cases, the mental and physical violence leads to mental illness. 44 the seclusion in which women live and the dexterity with which such mental illness is hidden make any assessment of the extent of the suffering impossible.

Conclusion:
It is a fact that the practice of Karo-Kari occurs in many parts of the country and shameful accepted and celebrated everywhere in the province. In most cases of Karo-Kari husband, father or brother of the blamed woman perpetrate the murder. In some cases family decides about the way of execution of the woman. Actual concern here is that, innocent woman are abused, dishonored and killed on mere suspicion and accusation without knowing their sin! Mostly their barbaric murder happened to secure the family land, any individual’s property or family honor. Sometimes these women are sacrificed to save any male family member. These unfortunate women, who are blamed as Karis, are victims of both, what they undergo and as well as of societal attitudes and biases, which hold them responsible for which they did not to. They always remembered with this stigma:
All the mentioned circumstances show that in our society:
Women are viewed and treated as personal property instead of human beings. * They are expected to follow the gender biased traditions. * They have no right to live and freely take breath in fresh air as their males or even as cattle can do by their own will. * They could be easily given in compensation of any murder and other family feuds. Mostly religion and social norms are used to justify such decisions. * Our judicial system has very little value of their live therefore most of the time murderers get away with minimal punishments.