[A new honor
killing was reported
in Lahore just this week, according to Agence
France-Presse. And recently, right-wing parties have protested a new law
enacted by legislators in Punjab Province that offers protection to
victims of domestic violence. The influential conservative politician Maulana
Fazlur Rehman called the law a “humiliation of husbands.”]
The Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in her
office in
She won an Oscar for her short-form documentary about
the survivor of an
attempted honor killing. Credit Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
|
On
Sunday, the filmmaker, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, won the Oscar for best
documentary short for her film “A Girl in the River:
The Price of Forgiveness,” which depicts the survivor of an
attempted honor killing who was forced to publicly forgive her family for
trying to murder her.
Human rights activists in Pakistan have been pressing the state
for decades to halt the attacks, in which family members believe they are
restoring their honor by killing women who have eloped or had an unsanctioned
relationship outside marriage. But such attacks have remained common, with more
than 700 women killed in Pakistan in 2014 alone, according to
statistics by the Aurat Foundation, a women’s rights advocacy group.
Before
traveling to the United States for the Academy Awards
ceremony, Ms. Obaid-Chinoy screened “A Girl in the River” at the official
residence of Pakistan ’s prime minister, Nawaz
Sharif. And, later, in congratulating
her for the award, her second, Mr.
Sharif announced that his government was “in the process of legislating to stop
such brutal and inhumane acts in the name of honor.”
Initial
work on a law has already started, according to Maiza Hameed, a lawmaker in Mr.
Sharif’s party who is working on the effort.
Despite that official support, efforts to improve protections
for Pakistani women remain fraught and face deep resistance.
A new honor
killing was reported
in Lahore just this week, according to Agence
France-Presse. And recently, right-wing parties have protested a new law
enacted by legislators in Punjab Province that offers protection to
victims of domestic violence. The influential conservative politician Maulana
Fazlur Rehman called the law a “humiliation of husbands.”
Another prominent opponent of that law, the cleric Mufti
Muhammad Naeem, extended his criticism to Ms. Obaid-Chinoy, calling her an
“obscene woman” during a television broadcast.
In
a telephone interview, Ms. Obaid-Chinoy said she was happy to have at least
restarted conversation about honor killings.
“The thing about Pakistan is that if you want change and
if you want to struggle for change in that country, there’s always a heavy price
to pay,” she said. “There are so many wonderful people who have been working on
legislation and awareness for years. If my film can hopefully play a small part
in getting legislation passed and introspection on why this exists in our
society, how it manifests, it’s a victory.”
In rural areas, in a traditional practice known as karo kari,
landlords and leaders of tribes convene a meeting after a couple has eloped or
is discovered to have a relationship, and they issue a verdict that the couple
be put to death. Eloping couples are often hunted down and killed. Many of
these leaders wield considerable political influence and escape prosecution.
“These landlords don’t let anyone into their houses — that’s
where these decisions are made, not in our police stations,” said Bilquis Bano
Edhi, who runs one of the largest charitable networks in Pakistan with her husband, Abdul Sattar
Edhi, and their family.
The killings are not limited to rural or remote areas, however.
In one of the most well-known cases of honor killings in Pakistan, Samia
Sarwar, who belonged to an affluent family and wanted to divorce her husband,
was shot dead in the office of her lawyer, Hina Jilani, in Lahore in 1999.
“Very few people get to the
court,” said Farida Hashmat, a lawyer. “There is so much pressure from the
tribal leaders and landlords, and even from the families. There is maybe one
case out of dozens that ends up in court.”
Survivors of attempted honor killings are often forced to
forgive their families for the attacks or testify in their favor. The Islamic
provisions of Pakistani law allow for families to reach a financial settlement
and forgive culprits in specific cases.
“That is the main issue, no matter how good of a law you make,”
said Mahnaz Rahman, a director of the Aurat Foundation.
Ms. Hameed, the lawmaker who was
working on the new effort to pass a law against honor killings, said the new
legislation would seek to eliminate the pressure on women to forgive their
families — a central point of Ms. Obaid-Chinoy’s film.
The onus, Ms. Hameed said, would be on judges to decide whether
women were being coerced into pardoning their families, and judges could annul
any attempts at forced mediation, and indict and punish those involved.
But the outcry at the recent
legislation in Punjab underscores the deeply rooted misogyny in Pakistan and the challenges in
developing new laws.
The real problem, the lawyer Zia Ahmed Awan says, is that these
murders are condoned by Pakistani society. “My firm opinion is that honor
killings are community-sanctioned violence, and this cannot only be changed by
laws,” said Mr. Awan, a veteran of cases involving violence against women. “The
perpetrator walks proudly with his chest puffed up with pride.”
Mr. Awan listed a number of issues central to honor killings,
from the lack of resources to the police’s involvement with the culprits, and
the failure to build any mechanism to implement existing legislation.
“There was one shelter for women in Karachi when its population was two
million, and there’s still one shelter, and the city’s population is 25
million,” he said. Mr. Awan said improving prosecution and an outreach effort
in communities were essential steps.
Successive governments have enacted laws on women’s rights,
including that of Mr. Sharif, but implementation is weak.
Ms. Hameed vowed that the government would continue to work on
the issue.
“We cannot compromise on the 52
percent of Pakistan ,” she said, referring to the
estimated percentage of women in the country. “That is not the way.”