ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Lack of data regarding the honour killing incidents from the courts, categorisation of FIRs and reluctance of persons to comment on the occurrence are the main impediments in implementing the law against the menace passed in 2004.

These observations were brought to light by Maliha Zia Lari on Wednesday at a ceremony held at Sareena Hotel to launch a pilot study, ‘Honour Killings in Pakistan and Compliance of Law’ by Aurat Foundation’s Legislative Watch Programme for Women’s Empowerment. Cecilie Landsverk, the Ambassador of Norway, was the chief guest on the occasion. Nasreen Azhar, Member, Commission on the Status of Women, chaired the launching ceremony.

Maliha Zia Lari, the author of the report, presented main findings of the study, and Ms Tahira Abdullah, a human rights activist, was the guest speaker.  Naeem Ahmed Mirza, Chief Operating Officer, Aurat Foundation, welcomed the participants and briefed them about the objectives behind carrying out the study on ‘honour’ killings and compliance of law.

While throwing light on different aspects of the report, Ms Lari said that mentioning of ‘grave and sudden provocation and no liability of abettors were the causes of non-implementation of the law.  The study showed that a lot of cases were highlighted in the media but were not reported with the police or even if registered but not classified as ‘honour’ killings.  The language used in the FIRs was not gender sensitive.  She also pointed out that courts usually gave decisions against the victim by using the provision of ‘grave and sudden provocation’.  Another factor which hindered the compliance of law was the fact that most of the ‘honour’ crimes were committed by the family members and the close relatives did not want to lose another family member.  So, most of the cases ended up in forced compromise.  The concerned institutions also lacked commitment to implement the law, she said.— A Reporter