KARACHI: Major parties agree to back legislation on karo kari
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 25: Speakers at a meeting on Friday demanded that all laws that are discriminatory towards women, minorities and other marginalized sections of the society be repealed immediately.
Speaking at a consultative meeting on “violence against women with a focus on honour killings”, organized by the Aurat Foundation, they stressed that a comprehensive law dealing with the honour killings be formulated so that the menace could be effectively controlled.
Representatives of various political parties, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, lawyers, retired judges, and others participated and gave their suggestions how the issue could be tackled effectively.
They urged the women parliamentarians to rise above the party politics, and take a unified stand on laws relating to women issues, like the karo-kari, etc., so that an effective laws be formulated to check violence against women.
They said that a large number of women are killed under the garb of honour killings. These acts, in fact, bring disrepute to the nation.
They said honour killings or karo-kari have nothing to do with the religion, but these are culturally sanctioned practices that vested interests practice to keep their hold on the women-folk to keep them away from their rights.
They said though the number of karo-kari incidents had been increasing, these were, in fact, a tip of the iceberg and an over-whelming majority (nearly 90 per cent) of the incidents are either not reported or these do not come to the knowledge of the media.
As police do not investigate the cases properly, when a defectively investigation comes to the stage of justice, culprits escape effective punishment.
They demanded that such crimes be made non-compoundable so that culprits do not take benefit of the compensation and no out of court settlements be allowed in karo-kari cases.
They said that whatever laws were available, these were not being implemented properly.
They demanded that karo-kari be treated an act of terrorism and the cases be tried in anti-terrorism courts.
They also demanded that all parallel judicial systems, like the jirga or panchayat systems, be abolished as these usually were under the influence of the local waderas, jagirdars who favour the accused in such cases.
They said it was unfortunate that many political parties speak sympathetically on women’s issues, these were not on the priority list of these major political parties.
They said Pakistan is a signatory to the UN Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination towards Women (CEDAW) and it is bound to make all its laws in conformity with the international commitment. They, however, regretted that very little has been done on ground to improve the status of the women.
They demanded that training programmes be arranged for the LEA personnel, and the police and members of judiciary be sensitised on gender issues.
Representatives of PPP, MQM, PML (F), Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf, Millat Party, PML (N), SDA, PPP (Shaheed Bhutto), PML (Q) and others presenting views of their views said they would support when any legislation on the issue of karo-kari was presented in the assembly.
They were informed by a speaker that the National Commission on the Status of Women had already reviewed the Hudood Ordinances and a report based on its recommendations was being prepared which would be sent to the government.
Soon the review of the Qisas and Diyat laws would also be started.
Deputy Speaker of the Sindh Assembly Rahila Tiwana, Sindh Women Development and Population Welfare Minister Dr Saeeda Malik, Chairperson of the National Commission on Status of Women Justice Majida Rizvi, Iqbal Haider, Justice Shaiq Usmani, Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid chief Zia Awan and Aurat Foundation’s Anis Haroon, Shehla Zia, Uzma Noorani, Nuzhat Shirin, Shama Mithani, Shumaila Nazar, Naila Inam, Asiya Tariq, Marium Palijo, Masroor Hafeez, Suriya Siddiqui, Tanzeem Rizvi, Sharfunisa, Nighat Manghi, Naeem Mirza, Rasheeda Patil, and others also spoke.
MPAs belonging to MQM Bilquis Mukhtar, Rehana Nasreen, Farida Balouch, Aziz Fatima Qazilbash, Farhana Ambreen; PPP MPA Sharfunisa and others also attended.
Representatives of various political parties — Sindh Democratic Alliance, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pakistan People’s Party Shahid Bhutto, Millat Party, PML (N), PML (F), Sindhiyani Tehreek; and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Shirkat Gah, Women Action Forum, Pakistan Women Lawyers Association (PAWLA) and others also participated.
