March 3, 2005

Recently a workshop was held to study honour killing and domestic violence in the country. The British trainers of the workshop introduced new concepts to the Sindh Police on how to solve such cases, reports Erum Haque

Honour killing and domestic violence are two of the most serious issues affecting women in our part of the world.

In order to suggest an effective line of action for bringing the offenders to justice, an interactive training workshop Honour killing: crimes against women was organized by the British Council in collaboration with the Northamptonshire Police and Sindh Police.

Trainers from Northamptonshire Police, Karla Howard and Gail Jones, conducted the workshop which focused on the investigative techniques used by the British police and the introduction of new concepts to make them more effective. They shared their experience in investigative procedures, evidence preservation and suspects’ identification and conviction.

The programme is funded by the British government’s Foreign and Commonwealth office, which adopted a multi-agency approach whereby stakeholders from NGOs, local media, politics and the legal profession were invited. Only one Judge attended the workshop along with one politician. This underlines the fact that representative departments that matter are not open to change.

On the first day the issue of honour killing was the subject and a case study was presented along with a few related exercises. Through the course of the day it was realized that the concept of honour killing is relatively new to the residents of the UK. At first, the cases of women killed in Asian families living in the UK were dealt under the umbrella of domestic violence but now the authorities believe that they might actually be honour killings. As a result 250 cases are being re-investigated.

According to the trainers, the factors responsible for honour killing usually have cultural roots as the UK is an open society and the Asian communities find it difficult to adjust there, with young people being forced into marriages by parents back home.

The hypothetical case study dealt with the case of Zena Chaudhuri who was killed by her brother Karim as she was in love with Jack Briggs and didn’t want to marry the person her family had chosen for her. Keeping this example in mind each group was given a task and asked to share their findings.

Through discussion it became clear that the local police lacks the efficiency and the means required to solve such a certain case. This is because there is no concept of taking help from outside sources and various other agencies. Also, there is little provision for our local police to preserve the crime scene and the evidence there. Lastly, as the suspect is either the brother or father of the victim the family refuses to provide any evidence.

Generally, the whole family is involved in an honour killing and at times the mother gets her daughter killed. The offender escapes punishment due to lack of evidence. At most he pays a minimal amount of Qisas.

On the second day, the issue of domestic violence was discussed along with a case study. The case was of Samia Sarwer, who was beaten up by her husband regularly as they were not happy together and he didn’t want her to get pregnant. She was left unconscious with a head wound after her husband beat her.

This case further illuminated the inefficiency of the local police. When asked what the police will do in such conditions, it was informed that the police had no idea and the only thing they did was to call the girls’ parents asking them to sort out the situation with their son-in-law.

This started a heated discussion on how domestic violence is defined in Pakistan, enlightening the participants to the fact that a husband beating his wife is considered a normal situation to be dealt by the family members and did not involve the police.

It was suggested that a number of agencies should be involved taking the help of the social sector organizations and other public agencies for solving a case. For immediate advice a place should be established where public service officers are available under one roof. The help of the media can also be taken, especially the electronic media, to create awareness.

The concept of family liaison was introduced, which the police found very helpful. It called for the police department to have family liaison officers who would deal with the family of the victims with utmost professionalism and sensitivity.

A sample of the crime detection and disposal form was also given so that the police in Pakistan can have the same type of form enabling them to gather maximum information on a single sheet of paper.

In order to solve the cases of domestic violence, the police were asked to intervene, arrest, caution and charge the abusive man instead of leaving the matter to the family members and making the woman more helpless so that she can be abused again.

The local police considered these concepts utopian and commented that a lot was still required to make things possible in the country. One of the participants who refused to be named commented, “The concept of domestic violence is not properly defined in Pakistan, there is no way we can intervene. As for honour killings, these mostly occur in the rural areas and the jirgas over there do not let the police interfere. Corruption is rampant and there is widespread illiteracy as well, in such a scenario a policeman’s hands are tied even if he wants to do something.”

In response to the query as to how this workshop would help the police, Inspector General Sindh, replied, “We will send suggestions to the superiors and when the legislation is made or amended these would be taken into account to improve the investigative techniques.”

According to Karla Howard, there are areas of learning for both the countries, and the two can work hand in hand to reduce the occurrence of such heinous crimes.

The trainers also realized that in Pakistan there is a hierarchy system. In the UK, an inspector and a constable can speak their minds in front of each other. But in the workshop, the junior police officers were not participating because they felt that their high ups would be offended if they spoke in front of them. This needs to be removed so that everybody can work and learn together to solve the cases.

This is just the first step taken by the British Council. In order to create further awareness 80 street theatre performances have been planned and the production of a drama serial and a documentary is in the pipeline. A media campaign will also be initiated in the rural areas so that the local press can report the cases in an effective manner. Let’s hope that these efforts will mark the dawn of a new era making this country a better place to live, specially for women.

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