OSCAR WIN SHINES LIGHT ON PAKISTAN EFFORTS TO STOP ‘HONOR KILLINGS’

[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.”]

By Saba Imtiaz

The Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in her office in Karachi.

She won an Oscar for her short-form documentary about the survivor of an

attempted honor killing. Credit Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

KARACHI, Pakistan — The latest Academy Award for a filmmaker from Pakistan is focusing attention on so-called honor killings of women in the country, with the prime minister and other senior officials vowing to strengthen laws against the practice.

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.”

@ The New York Times