FOR once, news about two women who were declared ‘kari’ is positive. A jirga held in the Chak area of Shirkarpur district had decreed that they should be murdered. Had the crime been carried out, the women would have suffered double injustice of the most serious nature given that they were declared ‘kari’ not because they were suspected of extramarital relations, as is usually the case, but because they had been kidnapped by some men of a rival tribe. Fortunately, media reports raised the alarm. After receiving instructions from the inspector general of the Sindh police, the local police swung into action and recovered the women from a house in Dur Mohammad Shar village.

This success should be followed up by the police making every effort to pursue and bring to book the organisers of the jirga that decided to play judge and jury. Locals believe that police are delaying this task because the organisers of the jirga have been provided shelter by influential political elements. All such suspicions must be put to rest in order to send out a strong signal that crimes in the name of honour will not be tolerated. The media, as this case illustrates, has a crucial role to play here. If news of the intended crime gets out, the probability increases that the law will intervene or that the perpetrators will stay their hand. This case should encourage reporters and news organisations to make renewed efforts to publicise any and all instances where someone’s rights are being threatened. Moreover, the media constitutes an important tool for shifting the societal mindset towards a more progressive trajectory and in shaping a society that resists crimes of honour. Such practices have not yet been controlled in their entirety in Pakistan, but as this case illustrates, the battle can be won and lives can be saved.