The recent “Honor Killing’ in Balochistan just triggered the Pakistani nation to come out of hiding and address yet again, the deeply embedded misogyny that lives amidst us, in the minds, hearts and rationale of those who feel it is ‘fitting and honorable” to kill someone to save their honor.
Feeling responsible for the actions and behaviours of another takes on a sinister truth when entire families choose to take a life, one that belongs to their very own, in the face of alleged or actual moral transgressions.
The Facts
A couple was shot to death in cold-blooded murder and a video clip surfaced online with evidence that screamed out for justice. No AI-engineered image was this as the woman stood tall, even dignified in her acceptance of the Fate that lay ahead of her.
The killing had allegedly been ordered by the tribal jirga in the region that traditionally serves to resolve such matters. As the relevant government authorities scrambled to show some efficiency by arresting ‘one’ culprit, now many more, as reports come in, of the many screened in the video, the Chief minister of Balochistan chose to drop a truth bomb on the raging netizens of a nation who barely expect justice to be served, but rather, denied, in most cases of Honor Killing.
The recent statement from the Balochistan Chief Minister revealed that the couple gunned down in cold-blooded murder were in fact not married to each other. He also proceeded to remind us in the same breath that this was still a murder case under investigation.
Which part of the statement do you think the average Pakistani listened to, and which part did they zone out on?
One wonders how and why this detail was revealed alongside other details about the investigation, knowing full well how many women and men in Pakistan are murdered on an annual basis in the name of honor – at least 405 lives lost to Honor Killing only in 2024 as reported by The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
By mentioning the marital status of the departed man and woman, while their murder in broad daylight, is under investigation, the pot has been stirred once again, on a debate and unlawful custom that urges and pressurizes male members of a family to take the law in their own hands and kill a family member based on allegations of moral misconduct.
There Is No Honor In Honor Killing
The fact that the woman was made to carry the Quran as she walked 7 paces to her death also seems to reinforce the belief that the perpetrators of this crime believe it was ordained by God or at least, that the Almighty is with them when they commit this act of murder.
While we lament at the state of our country, the moral and social fabric that forces women to feel unsafe whether in a rural or urban setting, we find solace in the fact that this is a country that is giving birth to women politicians, engineers, writers, film makers, artists on the one hand, but then also, persecuting the same women and subjecting them to moral policing, pronouncing an extra judicial death sentence and carrying it out in broad daylight, rather than letting a court of law decide on such matters. One wonders what is the ultimate solution?
Call to Action
In a country where the ordinary citizen heeds the call of a cleric more than a teacher in school, Pakistan now ranks 148th out of all 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index 2025 – the worst in gender parity worldwide, which is the equal contribution of women and men to every dimension of life, whether private or public. With a roughly 60% literacy rate in the country, according to The Economic Survey of Pakistan 2024-2025, the answer and responsibility to bridge the gap in the short to medium run, lies in our religious teachers who have the influence and reach to educate the masses on the perils of taking the law in their own hands and become judge and jury and executioner; carrying out a sentence without recourse to a court of law, taking a life and believing that this is what God would have meant them to do to save their ‘Honour’ and that of their families – teaching them that if behaviours can be judged as immoral by the moral handbook they hold sacred to their existence, taking a life to counteract that (allegedly immoral) behaviour is not redemption but in fact, a heinous crime, both in the people’s court of law and the teachings of the religion they follow.
The cross for Honor Killing is for all of us to bear collectively. We can no longer relegate it to a dated tradition or custom if it is still happening now, in 2025. If we do not want to be labelled as a society that looks the other way every time a crime is perpetrated in the name of honor or religion, we must act now. It is already too late and time is measured in lives lost – how many more will lose their’s to Honour Killing?
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