PESHAWAR, April 28: Speakers at a workshop expressed grave concern over increasing incidents of honour killings and urged the government to make strict laws to eradicate the menace.

The speakers of the one-day workshop organised by Oxfam on Thursday said that there was a dire need at the community level to do away with the crime.

MPA Farah Aqil Shah said that the NWFP police had registered 20 cases of honour killing in the first quarter of the current year and 18 girls were kidnapped during the same period.

“Five of the cases were dubbed as suicide. There is an immediate need of an effective judicial system to put brakes on the menace and protect women’s rights,” she said.

Oxfam’s Dr Arif Mehmood said that the anti-honour killing campaign was aimed at bringing about positive changes in the attitude of the people. He said that the people should discourage un-Islamic and inhuman practice and respect the womenfolk.

He said that the Oxfam had selected 30 districts in the country where membership campaign was in progress against honour killings, and added that the campaign would run till 2010.

NWFP Population Minister Kashif Azam, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that the MMA government would support NGOs that worked for eliminating social evils from the society.

He said that honour killing had no place in Islam, and added that Islam strongly condemned violence against anyone in any form and preached for its elimination.

He said that the MMA government was striving hard to clean the society of such evils. However, he added, unfortunately the masses had lost their confidence on institutions of justice as they were not getting justice on time.

The minister said that the provincial assembly had passed a bill against honour killings and now it was the responsibility of every person to follow the law and play their role in the struggle against the evil.