KARACHI: Leaders condemn death threats to woman: Law against karo-kari demanded
By Habib Khan Ghori
KARACHI, March 16: Leaders from a cross-section of society have taken serious notice of the reported threats to the life of a woman, Noor Khatoon, who has been declared kari, deserving to be killed.
The leaders demanded appropriate action against those who are giving death threats to the woman, and pointed out that neither Islam nor any law of the land gives anyone the right to kill women, including husbands, under the cover of karo-kari or honour killing.
Noor Khatoon, a poetess and writer, who is a member of District Council Khairpur, was married against her wishes. She is being reportedly punished by her husband for raising the issue of violence against women and has been receiving death threats.
The Acting Secretary-General of the Pakistan People’s Party and the party’s parliamentary party leader in the Senate, Mian Raza Rabbani, said: “We condemn these threats and demand of the government to take to task those giving death threats to the woman.”
He said in view of increasing incidents of violence against women in our society it has become all the more necessary to enact laws to bring to an end such abominable practices and to abolish all such customs as are based on the denial of women’s rights and dignity.
Jamaat-i-Islami deputy chief Senator Prof Ghafoor Ahmed said subjecting a woman to torture is contrary to Islamic teachings. He said Islam do not permit any one to give a woman in marriage to a man against her wishes as woman’s consent is mandatory for marriage.
He described the practice of karo-kari as a worst type of oppression of women, and called for remedial measures on a priority basis as it not only brings a bad name to the country but also to Islam and affects the entire social life.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Coordination Committee’s Senior Deputy Convener Aftab Ahmed Shaikh described karo-kari as a barbaric and extremely abhorrent practice.
“Karo-kari is a crime against humanity, so the government should deal with all those who follow this practice with an iron hand,” he emphasized.
He said sati was formerly practised in Hindu society. Widows were burnt on the funeral pyre of their husbands irrespective of women’s ages. But the Indian government enacted a legislation to ban this inhuman tradition. Now sati is a crime.
The practice of karo-kari should be declared a crime, he stressed.
The chief of the women’s wing of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan, Dr Farida Ahmed, said bringing charges against woman without four witnesses is itself a crime and anyone doing so deserves 80 whips. Besides, Shariat do not allow any one to take the law into his hands. If the accuser has any proof, he should, instead of declaring a woman kari, approach a court of law to seek justice.
Dr Farida, who is a member of the National Assembly of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, said she had submitted a question to the National Assembly on the issue of karo-kari and honour killing. People who committed murder under the cover of karo-kari and honour killing should be given exemplary punishment, she declared.
The Vice President of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), Mian Ejaz Shafi, said the threats being given to the woman deserved to be condemned.
“But where the government itself indulges in torturing its opponent as the latest example of Rana Sanaullah shows, it is difficult to get justice from government institutions. So there is a need to change the society’s attitude towards such issues. Noor Khatoon should be provided security and justice,” he said.
