PAKISTAN: Husband kills wife with pretext of defending “honour”; Sindh government supports murderer

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a woman has been killed by her husband and brother-in-law, who claim to have been acting to defend “honour”. The woman was murdered in front of her father and brother. The young woman was first locked in a storeroom for three days, without food and water. Then, she was tortured viciously, and killed in front of her father and brother.

Rather than apprehend the murderers, the local police of Jacobabad, Sindh Province, helped them flee the scene and take shelter in other province at the house of a politician. Furthermore, the Larkana Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP), Mr. Saeen Rakhio Meerani, has transferred the case to another city in an effort to provide impunity to the killers. No one has been arrested one month since the murder. A jirga, the illegal and unconstitutional court run by feudal lords of different tribes, is pressuring the woman’s family to take back the case filed against the perpetrators.

CASE NARRATIVE:

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Bhindar Sangat, Hyderabad, about an “honour” killing. The case details are as follows:

Ms. Tahira Bano Khoso (21), was a resident of Shah Ghazi Mohalla, Jacobabad, Sindh, and married to Mr. Waqar Umrani, resident of Dangar Mohalla, Jacobabad. Waqar is a landlord and is a member of the ruling party of Sindh, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and he married Tahira on 30 March 2014. Since the wedding, Waqar had been pressuring his wife in order to obtain money from her parents, who are also landowners in Sindh.

Finding his in-laws to be weak, Waqar began beating his wife and using and other violent methods to torture her. As a result, Tahira’s parents began providing Waqar this dowry money. However, a few days before Tahira’s murder, her parents stopped sending money to Waqar. This infuriated him. A new round of violence commenced. Waqar now began beating Tahira with iron rods, and windshield wipers; he routinely suffocated her with the wire of a cell phone charger; and he slashed at her hands with shaving razors.

On the day of the murder, 19 March 2015, a maid in Waqar’s house telephoned Tahira’s mother to come over immediately as Tahira had suffered severe injuries. The maid told Tahira’s mother that Tahira had been detained in a room for three days without food and water, and that now she was being beaten and injured by her husband, his brother, and two nephews. Tahira’s mother, father, and brother immediately reached Waqar’s house; there they found Tahira’s being relentlessly slapped and beaten with a stick by four persons including her husband. Blood was oozing from both of Tahira’s arms, which had been cut by a razor. She was almost unconscious.

Tahira’s brother, Khalid Mehmood Khosa, and her father intervened. Khalid was also attacked, punched and beaten with sticks, and his cell phone was snatched away because he was trying to contact the police helpline. Tahira hid behind her father and asked for help.

But, Waqar pushed and her and shouted, “you cannot die until I kill you”.

He then shot her point blank in the head and Tahira died on the spot.

Since the murder, the perpetrators and, particularly Tahira’s husband, are attempting to hide behind the feudal custom of “honour” killings in order to justify their actions and get away scot-free.

Reports published in the media allege that Waqar’s younger brother, Mr. Fareed, who is also known as Comrade Umrani, who had been in hiding in a nearby location has been helped by DIGP Saeen Rakhio Meerani to leave Sindh Province and settle in Balochistan Province, where his party leader and former provincial minister, Mr. Sadiq Umrani, lives. On 3 April 2015, the DIGP has also transferred the murder case to Shaikarpur District, another district, which is 25 kilometers from the site of the murder. The DIGP is also pressuring family members of the young women to settle the matter outside court and withdraw the case of intentional murder.

When the Tahira’s body was being taken to the hospital her father and brother found that her body was riddled with marks of injury: both her hands had been cut with blades, her leg was broken, and there were severe torture marks on her ribs and there were marks showing that she had been burned with lit cigarettes. According to the post mortem report, Tahira was already close to death as a result of her torture, the final gun shot only ended her last breaths.

The City Police Station of Jacobabad has filed a First Information Report (FIR) again five persons: the husband, his brother, two nephews, and one servant. However, since the murder, one month has passed and none of the accused has been arrested. Instead, perpetrators have been assisted in their attempts to abscond till the feudal parallel court, the Jirga, decides the case and exonerates the killers on the pretext of this being an “honour” killing.

To provide impunity to the killers, higher-ranking police officials have changed the Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Lashari as well as the Investigation officer and appointed a new SHO and Investigation officer so that they will delay the process and scuttle the “investigation”.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

In Pakistan, wherever feudal lords dominate honour killings are common phenomena; women are targeted and killed brutally. In Muslim society the “honour” of the family is linked with religious practice. This practice of killing in the name of honour is not restricted to Pakistan, geographically speaking; overseas Pakistanis also carry this mindset with them, and even in the civilized societies of Great Britain, Canada, USA, and other European countries, honour killings recur. Every year in Pakistan, about 1000 to 2000 women and men are killed in the name of this centuries old custom of crime. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a non-government organisation, has stated in its annual report that in 2013 more than 800 women were killed in the pretext of defending honour.

According to Human Rights Watch, “Honor killings are acts of vengeance, usually death, committed by male family members against female family members, who are held to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by (individuals within) her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce—even from an abusive husband—or (allegedly) committing adultery. The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a way that “dishonors” her family is sufficient to trigger an attack on her life.”

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write the letters to the authorities calling them to take immediate action against the police officials of Jacobabad, Sindh, for failing to arrest the killers of an innocent 21-year-old woman, who has been murdered under the pretext of an “honour” killing. The Sindh government must also arrest and prosecute the DIG police, Mr. Saeen Rakhio Meerani, for helping alleged perpetrators run and hide till the illegal tribal court system of Jirga can decide in favour of the perpetrators. The DIG must also be prosecuted on charges of transferring the murder case to another district and pressuring the family of the victim to settle the case and withdraw the charges. The perpetrators must be arrested immediately otherwise the victim’s family will only face more threats.

The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women calling for his/her intervention into this matter.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER