MANSEHRA: The Hazara police have sought the help of religious leaders to check the honour-related killings in the highly conservative Upper and Lower Kohistan districts.

“In Kohistan, ulema influence the people’s opinions and therefore, I urge them to issue a decree against the honour-related killings, which is not only a social stigma but also totally violate Islamic injunctions,” deputy inspector general of police, Hazara range, Saeed Wazir told Dawn at the conclusion of his Kohistan visit on Saturday.

Mr Wazir, who addressed congregations of ulema in Dasu, the district headquarters of Upper Kohistan, and Pattan, the district headquarters of Lower Kohistan, said the police had registered cases of 23 honour-related killings in Kohistan during the last five years suggesting 46 people were killed in such crimes.

He said many honour-related cases were not reported to the police.

“The incidence of such crimes is very high and therefore, I pleaded ulema to play their proactive role in bringing it down,” he said.

Mr Wazir said the police had been taking all possible measures to eliminate honour killings from the two highly conservative districts with the help of ulema and others, who influenced the people’s opinions.

He said the mega development projects launched under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative would push the land prices in the region up and therefore, more killings over land disputes were feared with the people labeling them as honour killings as a cover-up.

The official said three such cases happened in Kohistan recently in which men and women were killed for land and money but were declared honour killings to escape retaliations.

He said the sense of deprivation among the local residents, corruption and low literacy rate were to blame for honour-related crimes.

“In a positive development, 10 Kohistani illiterate girls have applied for the posts of women police constables in the region. This has happened for the first time in local history. I have taken up the matter with the inspector general of police for relaxation of the laws to induct them into the police force,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2017