KARACHI, Aug 29: Various representatives of the civil society organizations and the concerned citizens, on Friday, demanded that karo-kari (honour killings) be made non-compoundable offence and “arsh”, “diyat” and “daman” should not be applicable in the cases of Qatl-i-Amad.
They were speaking at a meeting organized by the Aurat Foundation in collaboration with the Women’s Action Forum, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Shirkatgah. The meeting was held in continuation of a consultative process that began a few months back to draft a bill on the issue of honour killings.
Those, who expressed their views on the subject and made their suggestions on the issue, included Justice (retd) Shaiq Usmani, Justice (retd) Rashid Rizvi, Dr Hamida Khuhro, Iqbal Haider, Hina Jillani, Sherry Rehman, Shahla Zia, Anis Haroon, Uzma Noorani, Najma Sadiq, Nadia Haroon, Rakshanda Naz, Hassam Qadir Shah and Dr Azra Afzal.
They said that several categories of killers particularly close relatives of the victims could not be given qisas penalty under Section 306 and 307. The speakers were of the view that a number of men, who commit the murders of their close female relatives, could escape the imposition of qisas under the law.
They suggested that provisions be added to these sections and sub-sections to make it clear that those provisions, which allow murderers to escape the qisas penalty, would not apply or be enforced in cases of honour killings.
They further said that there were several provisions in the law (Sections 309 and 310), whereby compromises could be affected through waiver or compounding of offences by the heirs to save the murderers from getting any punishment. Thus, in many cases of honour killings, the murderers escape punishments, they added.
The speakers suggested that provisions be added to these sections to clearly lay down that those provisions, which allow compromises and saves murderers from any punishment, would not apply or be enforced in cases of honour killings.
Referring to another section, they said that though the courts could impose punishment on the offenders even after a compromise had been reached, this was left to their discretion, and the murderers could also be acquitted on the basis of the compromise (Section 338-E). As a result, the courts rarely imposed any penalty in cases of compromise and murderers were often honourably acquitted despite being admitted murderers, they added.
It was also suggested that there should be no provision for acquittal of murderers under the law, even if they were let off after compounding of the offence.
They pointed out that the law had given almost unlimited discretionary powers to the courts under Section 338-F to interpret the provisions of the chapter in accordance with their own understanding of Islamic injunctions. They suggested that Section 338-F should be removed from the law.
Apart from amendments made to the laws, several additional steps would have to be taken to ensure that all organs of the criminal justice system (the police, prosecutors, district magistrates, judges, and medico-legal community) could play an effective role in the registration, investigation and prosecution of cases of honour killings, they added.
The chairperson of the National Commission on Status of Women, Justice (retd) Majida Rizvi, said that the commission had also asked experts to review these laws and give their suggestions so that these could be forwarded to the government.
The adviser to the chief minister on home affairs, Aftab Ahmad Shaikh, informed the participants of the meeting that the government was also preparing a bill on honour killings.