Aurat Foundation expressed concern over the murder of a young woman Farzana

Lahore: Aurat Foundation, has expressed serious concern over the murder of a young woman Farzana Iqbal who was killed by her family with bricks in broad daylight near Lahore High Court for marrying without their consent.

Farzana was killed by her father and brothers and around two dozen relatives who attacked her and her husband with batons and bricks. The saddest part is that neither the crowd of onlookers nor policemen present there and in the high court intervened to apprehend the culprits.

Farzana had come to the court to record her statement in a case lodged after she had married without her family’s consent some months ago. The family had reportedly threatened Farzana and her husband on the last hearing held on May 12 and on May 28 they had come only with the intention of killing her.

After surrendering himself to the police Farzana’s father showed no sign of repentance and called the cold-blooded murder an “honour killing”. He stated that he did not regret his actions.

The woman had come to the court to record her statement in a case lodged after she had married without her family’s approval. The family had reportedly threatened Farzana and her husband on the last hearing on May 12.

According to a survey by AF, around 1,000 Pakistani women are killed every year by their families in the name of honor. The true figure is probably many times higher since the Aurat Foundation only compiles figures from newspaper reports.

AF stressed that the along with the civil society organizations, the State should also start a public awareness campaign to combat the feudal mentality and ensure no premium for the criminals involved in the crimes of honor killing.

Pakistani law allows a victim’s family to forgive their killer, but in ‘honor killing’ crimes, most of the time the women’s killers are her family. The law allows them to nominate someone to do the murder, then forgive him. This is a huge flaw in the law and Aurat Foundation is also struggling on this issue

Aurat Foundation calls upon the government to unreservedly condemn this shameful crime and make sure that Farzana’s killers do not escape justice by glorifying their dastardly act in the garb of ‘honour’.