New Law Fails to Curb Honor Killings in Pakistan

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A girl suspected of having an extramarital affair is labeled kari, or tainted woman, while the suspected man is called karo. Those found guilty of this "crime" are sentenced to death.



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New Law Fails to Curb Honor Killings in Pakistan

Fri May 14, 7:30 AM ET Add World - OneWorld.net to My Yahoo!

Ahmad Naeem Khan, OneWorld South Asia

LAHORE, May 14 (OneWorld) - Honor killings continue in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh despite last month's landmark court ruling prohibiting them, thanks to lax implementation and unchanging feudal attitudes.


• IRIN News
• Human Rights Watch
• Feminist Majority Foundation

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According to Madadgar, a joint venture of the nongovernmental organization Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) and UNICEF (news - web sites), 1261 cases of karo-kari, or honor killings, were reported during 2003. of these, 930 were committed against women, 316 against men, 8 against girls and 7 against boys.


Providing a break-up of the perpetrators of the crime, Madadgaar says that in 362 cases, the husband was guilty, in 182 it was the brother, in 129 cases it was in-laws, and in 87 cases, the father of the unfortunate woman had her killed.


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But the rash of killings has not abated after the ruling. In the latest incident, last week two young girls, Tahmeena and Abida, were killed on the orders of a council in Shikarpur town of Sindh, for leaving home without informing their family.


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In another case last month, a man killed his 30 year-old sister Sabhai after taking her home from a women's shelter home. Prior to this, he appeared before a district and sessions court, where he pledged to look after her.



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