PATRIARCHAL brutality, perpetrated by society and families, remains rampant in the country. Murder in the name of honour persists because our society is unwilling to free its women. Two chilling incidents of such killings recently took place in Khairpur and Taxila. A 19-year-old girl, accused of having ‘illicit relations’, was shot dead in the presence of the police and villagers in Khairpur. The FIR states that three men opened fire and fled the scene; she sustained a fatal bullet in the chest. While some arrests followed, the failure of police to prevent the crime shows how lax law enforcement can be, especially in an anti-women setting. In Taxila, another man slaughtered his sister, brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Initial investigations say he was incensed over his 23-year-old sister-in-law tying the knot without the blessings of her family.

Hostile attitudes run deep. The question is: are our laws enough of a deterrent considering that criminals are rarely convicted? A disturbing spike in the tribal custom in Sindh was seen last year — 105 females were lost to karo kari. Police records showed that most of the perpetrators were family members. HRCP puts the toll for ‘honour killings’ in 2025 at much higher than the 226 in 2023. Numbers soar even when most cases go unreported, and despite the amendments to the law in 2016 to prevent an easy escape for murderers who often walk free due to negligible law enforcement and complicit police officers. Ending this curse requires more than simply arresting the perpetrators. Urgent corrective action taken by an empowered and modernised police force, together with widespread access to education and awareness, can strip the menace of all social sanction. Activists believe that ‘karo kari is an industry’ — sustained by blood money and the exchange of women through jirgas. In short, political expediency and illegal jirgas that wield a brutal hold over rural populations are the prime culprits behind the prevalence of misogynistic customs.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2026