"Honor Killings" in Pakistan

[MMMMMM]

from Amnesty International Canada:



(excerpt) Samia Sarwar was murdered for trying to escape an abusive marriage. At the instigation of her own parents, the 36-year-old Pakistani woman was shot dead in her lawyer’s office in Lahore, Pakistan on April 6, 1999. Although the circumstances of her death are well known, the police have yet to lay charges.

Each year, hundreds of women and girls are murdered in Pakistan in the name of honour. For some, their crime is seeking a divorce. Others have been accused of adultery or promiscuity. Some are killed after reporting a rape.

Advocates who defend women’s rights are also the targets of violence. For example, Hina Jilani, a lawyer who helped Samia Sarwar pursue a divorce, has received numerous death threats.
Honour killings, and the related threats to women’s rights activists, violently enforce the subjugation of women’s freedom to the power of husbands and other male authorities. In Pakistan, honour killings are legitimized by specific local customs. But this form of violence is not limited to Pakistan. In other societies, other values are used to justify domestic violence, including the familiar notion than a man should enjoy absolute power in his home. (end excerpt)

http://www.amnesty.ca/women/freedom2.htm

[B-Man]

Why are you wasting your time on such trivial concerns? Maybe you should worry about more important matters... for example, did you know, did you know that in the United States, women are not allowed to be members of Augusta National Golf Club? That is a much more important issue, just ask Martha Burke.


I think "honor killings" are a crime against humanity, but there are probably others who post on this site that will call me a bigot for saying so, or ask who we are to judge other cultures. .

[IrishHand]

Even in this country, if you walk in on your wife having sex with someone else, you can shoot her (and him, if you get the urge) - that remains the law in many states (justifiable homicide). In others, those circumstances drop the charge from murder to manslaughter at worst, although most juries will acquit anyway.

It's all a matter of degree. (The main difference being that in this country, women are also often free to shoot their cheating husbands if they catch them in the act.)

[B-Man]

Even in this country, if you walk in on your wife having sex with someone else, you can shoot her (and him, if you get the urge) - that remains the law in many states (justifiable homicide). In others, those circumstances drop the charge from murder to manslaughter at worst, although most juries will acquit anyway.

The difference between shoplifting and premeditated murder is also a "question of degree," so what is your point? Do you honestly believe the murder of a woman who was raped is morally equivalent to a man catching his wife cheating and shooting the other man in the heat of the moment? That's absurd.

By the way, (1) I am not condoning the murder of adulterers, and (2) even where it is available, the defense you are referring to is far from automatic.

[MMMMMM]

But a lot of these "honor killings" also take place when a brother or a father hears of a daughter's premarital affair. That's a monumental disgrace to their family name, so their solution is to kill her. Also, women attempting to get divorces are victims of these killings. The perpetrators are rarely punished.

[ripdog]

This thread is the eqivalent of a straw man argument. MMMMMM, how hard is is to to kick the crap out of a scarecrow? Not very hard. Instead of putting up these patsies, why don't you try something a bit more challenging? Attempt to justify the United States's support and friendship of this awful "government". That'll spur some serious debate here. Pointing out that these actions are despicable is about as significant as proving to us all that the sky is blue.

[MMMMMM]

That's not my point, although it is a point.

I don't post in order to spur debate. I post things which strike me as important or of interest. If you believe the primary purpose of posting should be to spur debate, well you are certainly entitled to that view.

[MCS]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Advocates who defend women’s rights are also the targets of violence

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, just like abortion clinics here!