90% of honor killings worldwide take place among Muslims, and in some areas penalties are relaxed for honor murders. Yet Islamic clerics are never called to account for this, and Muslim communities never called upon to act to end this barbaric practice.
“Honour crime: Woman killed for refusing to divorce husband,” by Rashid Ameer in The Express Tribune, February 23 (thanks to Block Ness):
KHANEWAL: A 21-year-old girl was murdered in Khanewal on Monday allegedly by her brother because she had refused to give in to her family”s demand to divorce her husband.
Ismat Parveen, a resident of Kot Muhammad Hussain, was killed following her statement before a senior civil judge that she did not want to divorce Javed Ramzan, a neighbour she had wedded in a court a few months ago.
City police have arrested the accused, Nafees.
Parveen’s family had been opposed to the marriage and had earlier filed a kidnapping case against Ramazan with the City police station. SHO Riaz Luther said they had arrested three of Ramazan’s kin but later released them when both families reached a settlement through a panchayat. The panchayat, he said, decided that the girl be handed over to her parents so that the couple could be married “˜properly”.
A family member told The Express Tribune that the girl returned home when she was assured that she would be married to Javed. “When she returned, her parents pressured her to file a divorce case,” he said. He added that when she stated before the senior civil judge that she did not want a divorce, the family again insisted that she go with them and be married “˜properly”.
SHO Luther said they were committed to investigating the case fairly. He said one of the deceased’s relatives, an assistant sub inspector in Khanewal police, had tried hard to get the suspect released so that he could attend the funeral.
He said the ASI even requested the deputy superintendent of police but he refused to release the accused.
The SHO said he suspected that the family would move to withdraw the case. He said this happened frequently in “˜honour killings”. “They have lost a daughter. Why would they want to lose their son now?” he asked….