The shocking murder of Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch by her brother Waseem last July turned the spotlight on honour killings and sparked a fresh push to close loopholes allowing the killers to walk free. Long-awaited legislation was finally passed three months. However, more than a year on, lawyers and activists say honour killings are still occurring at an alarming pace. At least 280 such murders were recorded by the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan from October 2016 to June of this year — a figure believed to be underestimated and incomplete.
The new legislation mandates life imprisonment for honour killings, but whether a murder can be defined as a crime of honour is left to the judge’s discretion.
That means the culprits can simply claim another motive and still be pardoned, said Dr. Farzana Bari, a head of the Gender Studies Department at Islamabad’s Quaid-i-Azam University. At first, Baloch’s heartbroken parents vowed they would give Waseem, her brother, no absolution. But well over a year later, the trial is still grinding its way through the courts. This length of time has been long enough — as often happens — for Baloch’s father to change his mind.
Had international revulsion over the killing not seen the Pakistani state take the unprecedented step of declaring itself an heir alongside Baloch’s parents, their forgiveness could have already seen Waseem walk free.
