Charges were brought against Farzana’s husband, Mohammad
Iqbal, who was accused by her family of kidnapping her and forcing her into
marriage. Farzana was on her way to testify in court
that she loved her husband and married him willingly.
As the couple arrived at the Lahore, Pakistan, courthouse on
Tuesday, May 27, a crowd gathered around to watch as the pregnant Farzana was
stoned with bricks and clubbed to death by several of her male relatives, including her own
father and brothers. She died of severe head injuries.
 |
Mohammad
Iqbal, right, husband of Farzana Parveen, 25, sits in an ambulance next
to the body of his pregnant wife who was stoned to death by her own
family in Lahore, Pakistan.(Photo: K.M. Chaudary, AP)
|
I’m glad I wasn’t born in a place like Pakistan, where an
average of 1000 women are murdered every year at the hands of the men in their
families defending their “family honor.”
What is even more appalling is the fact that these killings are tolerated
and even dismissed by the courts and government of Pakistan. If men are arrested and tried for these
crimes, even if they are found guilty, punishments are often extremely light or
non-existent.
In fact, the way the Pakistani system is set up with regard
to murder or accidental deaths, by law the victim’s family can forgive the killers. This opens up the world of honor killings to
abuse. “The law allows (the family) to nominate someone to do the murder, then forgive him,” in essence allowing the murderers to get away with murder. Honor killings usually specifically target
women or homosexuals. The broad and flimsy
reasons given to justify honor killings range from imagined or real sexual
encounters, rape victims, divorce even if the wife is being abused, refusing arranged marriages, to just merely
appearing to enjoy oneself in public.
 |
A
family member of the pregnant woman stoned to death by her family wails
over her dead body in an ambulance in Lahore, Pakistan. AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary
|
What kind of a father kills his own daughter because he feels
insulted by her choice of husband? What
kind of father would rather kill his own daughter than see her happily married
to a man of her own choosing? Don’t we
all, as parents, really only want our children to be happy? What is wrong with a society that places “perceived
family honor” over the happiness or freedom of a woman to live her own life and
make her own choices?
On a final note, Islam denounces honor killings. It is a patriarchal and cultural practice with no base in religion.
Let me say it again: I AM GLAD I WAS NOT BORN A PAKISTANI WOMAN!
