KARACHI, Nov 14: The so-called honour killings are more of a social problem than consequence of any legal lacuna, a Sindh High Court division bench observed on Friday while disposing of a writ petition seeking legislative action to ban murders “for the sake of honour”.

Emphasizing the need for creating public awareness on the issue, the bench agreed with petitioner-lawyer Afroz Ihsan Haq that social evils, like honour killings (karo-kari), trafficking, child abuse and jirga trials must be eradicated to establish the rule of law.

Laws are in existence against such practices but are not being strictly enforced. The government and the civil society should join hands to put an end to such practices, it observed.

Earlier, federal government’s standing counsel Syed Ziauddin Nasir and Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan submitted that both the federal and provincial governments were fully conscious of the problems being created by honour killings and jirga trials, which was a usurpation of the judicial function of the state.

The matter has been taken up by the national and provincial legislatures and the federal and provincial executive authorities were actively considering taking measures to completely outlaw administration of justice by private individuals in derogation of the state’s authority.

The law officers said the federal and provincial governments realized that laws were required to be made more stringent to plug any loopholes. The government functionaries were being asked to ensure strict compliance with the law of the land. However, a concerted action was required by the various segments of the society to eradicate deep-rooted social evils.

Questioning the maintainability of the petition, however, they said it was not for the judiciary to issue directions to the legislatures under the Constitution. The assemblies were representative institutions and were aware of their obligations.

The division bench, comprising Justices Zahid Kurban Alavi and Zia Perwez, disposed of the petition with observations emphasizing the need for coordinated action.