US Domestic Violence Claims Twice More Lives Than Pakistan Honor Killings

In 2013, 869 women became victims of “honor killings” in Pakistan, according to Canadian Professor Judy Haiven. Compare this to the United States, where 1600 women were killed by their male partners or husbands in the same year, according to US-based Violence Policy Center.  Unlike domestic violence deaths in America, Pakistani honor killings make regular headlines. A recent example is the global media coverage of the killing of Qandeel Baloch who gained fame as a Pakistani social media celebrity.

In a letter to Toronto Star newspaper in June 2014, Professor Haiven wrote:

"Maybe the women wanted to leave the marriage, or had found a new partner, but clearly the men felt betrayed and dishonored by their partners and killed them. The media are quick to target women murders in Muslim-dominated countries, but maybe the media should also look at the facts in the U.S. (and Canada) as well."

Regardless of the intent of the western media and Pakistani westernized elite, it is heartening to see that Pakistan parliament has responded to the scourge of "honor killings" by enacting new legislation to stiffen the penalties for the perpetrators of this crime.

Previously, killers could be pardoned by a victim's family to avoid a jail term under Qisas and Diyat laws.  Now forgiveness will only spare them the death penalty. The perpetrator convicted of honor killing will have serve a mandatory minimum jail term of 25 years.

When I tweeted out the news of the new legislation, there were many who liked it and retweeted it. However, I also received responses from a gentleman who was clearly more interested in attacking Muslims. Here are some tweets and responses from this exchange:

Riaz Haq @haqsmusings:  BBC News - 'Honour killings': #Pakistan closes loophole allowing killers to go free. #QandeelBaloch #honorkillings http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37578111

Bryan Valvana @BryanValvana: Maybe most people never knew the loophole existed because muslims like @Deanofcomedy and @lsarsour never criticized or said a word about it.

RH: @BryanValvana @Deanofcomedy @lsarsour Killers often go free in #US and #Europe. Neither western nor #Pakistan laws are perfect.

BV: @haqsmusings @Deanofcomedy @lsarsour Right. A loophole letting honor killers go free is "imperfect." Not "sick, barbaric & evil."

RH: @BryanValvana #Pakistan fixed its law. Canadian Prof Judy Haivan says more #honorkillings in #US than in #Pakistan https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2014/06/02/honour_killings_in_the_west.html

BV: @haqsmusings That's an opinion, not a fact. That's also totally ridiculous. How do you believe this self serving garbage?

RH: @BryanValvana unlike your bigoted garbage, Canadian Prof backs up her opinion with US government data on domestic violence deaths in America

BV: @haqsmusings People who commit domestic violence go to prison, there's no loophole that allows them to go free. The comparison is insane.

RH: @BryanValvana Not always. Besides, any jail time is often too little, too late for the victims.

BV: @haqsmusings No one is arguing that. Classic straw man. You've successfully derailed the conversation. Transparent tactic.

The above twitter conversation should give my readers a flavor of how even a good act in Pakistan gets attacked as part of the Islamophobes'  intense campaign against all things Pakistan and Muslim.

What is often forgotten is that  until 1977, the California Penal Code stated that wives charging husbands with criminal assault and battery must suffer more injuries than commonly needed for charges of battery.

Also ignored is the fact that Pakistanis themselves take seriously the issue of violence against women. Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy has been amply recognized with both Pakistani and international awards for her work to highlight the problem.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Islamophobia Industry

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy Wins Oscar

Beheading in Buffalo: Domestic Violence or Honor Killing?

Honor Killings in India

Qandeel Baloch: Leading a Social Revolution in Pakistan?

Silent Social Revolution in Pakistan

Arif Hasan's Website

The Eclipse of Feudalism in Pakistan

Social and Structural Transformations in Pakistan

Malala Moment: Profiles in Courage-Not!

Urbanization in Pakistan Highest in South Asia

Rising Economic Mobility in Pakistan

Upwardly Mobile Pakistan

Superfreakonomics on Status of Indian Women

Freakonomics is a series of books by authors Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner who find data points, patterns, correlations and trends that are often missed by mainstream economists and researchers. For example, the authors see how legalization of abortion may have caused significant crime rates decline in the United States in recent decades. They argue with various statistics to reject other possible explanations like gun control, strong economy, three-strikes laws etc. Authors say that the termination of unwanted pregnancies has led to fewer criminals on the streets of America.

In their latest book of the Freakonomics series, Superfreakonomics, the authors cite the findings of two American economists Robert Jensen and Emily Oster that cable TV in 2700 households empowered Indian women to be more autonomous. Cable TV households had lower birthrates, less domestic abuse and kept more girls in school. Here are some highlights from the book about India:

1. If women could choose their birthplace, India might not be a wise choice of a place for any of them to be born.

2. In spite of recent economic success and euphoria about India, the people of India remain excruciatingly poor.

3. Literacy is low, and corruption is high in India.

4. Only half the Indian households have electricity, and fewer have running water.

5. Only one in 4 Indian homes has a toilet.

6. 40% of families with girls want to have more children, but families with boys do not want a baby girl.

7. It's especially unlucky to be born female, baby boy is like a 401 K retirement plan, baby girl requires a dowry fund.

8. Smile Train in Chennai did cleft repair surgery at no cost for poor children. A man was asked how many children he had. He said he had 1, a boy. It turned out that he also had 5 daughters which he did not mention.

9. Indian midwives in Tamil Nadu are paid $2.50 to kill girls with cleft deformity.

10. Girls are highly undervalued, there are 35 million fewer females than males, presumed dead, killed by midwife or parent or starved to death. Unltrasound are used mainly to find and destroy female fetuses. Ultrasound and abortion are available even in the smallest villages with no electricity or clean water.

11. If lucky enough not to be aborted, girls face inequality and cruelty at every turn because of low social status of Indian women.

12. 51% of Indian men say wife beating is justified, 54% women agree, especially when dinner is burned or they leave home without husband's permission.

13. High number of unwanted pregnancies, STDs, HIV infections happen to Indian women when 15% of the condoms fail. Indian Council of Medical Research found that 60% of Indian men's genitalia are too small to fit the condoms manufactured to international standard sizes.

14. Indian laws to protect women are widely ignored. The government has tried monetary rewards to keep baby girls and supported microfinance for women. NGO programs, smaller condoms, and other projects have had limited success.

15. People had little interest in State run TV channel due to poor reception or boring programs. But cable television has helped women, as 150 million people between 2001-2006 got cable TV which gave them exposure to wider world.

16. American economists found that the effect of TV in 2700 households empowered women to be more autonomous. Cable TV households had lower birthrates, less domestic abuse and kept daughters in schools.

Freakonomics series authors Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner use the above facts to prove what they call the "Law of Unintended Consequences".

They argue that access to cable TV, not originally intended to help liberate women, has done more to improve the lives of Indian women than the many laws and government programs designed to help them.

Cable television is present in over 16 million Pakistani households accounting for 68% of the population in 2009. I am not aware of any studies done on the impact of cable TV on rural women in Pakistan, but my guess is that trends similar to India's are empowering women in Pakistan's rural households with growing cable TV access.

Related Links:

Media Boom in Pakistan

Gender Inequality Worst in South Asia

Grinding Poverty in Resurgent India

Women's Status in Pakistan

WEF Global Gender Gap Rankings 2009

India, Pakistan Contrasted 2010

Female Literacy Through Mobile Phones

Pakistan's Woman Speaker: Another Token or Real Change

Female Literacy Lags Far Behind in India and Pakistan

Female Genocide Unfolding in India

Status of Women in Pakistan

On March 8, 2009, the International Women's Day today, how are women faring in Pakistan? The status of women in Pakistan continues to vary considerably across different classes, regions, and the rural/urban divide due to uneven socioeconomic development and the impact of tribal, feudal, and urban social customs on women's lives. While some women are soaring in the skies as pilots of passenger jets and supersonic fighter planes, others are being buried alive for defying tribal traditions.

In terms of the women's political representation in the nation's parliament, there has clearly never been a better time. The discriminatory laws such as the Hudood ordnance have been repealed or diluted. In addition to dozens of women colleges and universities, some of the co-educational professional institutions of higher learning have 50% or higher enrollment of women. Girls account for 53% of all college students in Pakistan, according to the 2005 Education Census. There are other indicators such as women's growing numbers in the traditional male professions such as engineering, law, medicine, business, the police and the military. Women's ranks have also grown in the nation's entertainment, news and mass media and they are much freer than ever to express themselves in the choice of appearance, speech, clothing, arts, entertainment etc. There have even been performances of The Vagina Monologues in Pakistan. Localized with Urdu and Punjabi words, The Vagina Monologues was first staged in Islamabad in 2003 for an audience of 160, mostly women, followed by performances for mixed audiences in Karachi and Lahore. Organized with AMAL, an NGO working on gender rights in Pakistan, the actresses added information about local incidents of violence against women and honor killings.



Along with the signs of women's progress in Pakistan, there have also been high-profile incidents of violence against women, such as live burial of women in Baba Kot, a village 50 miles from Usta Mohammad town of Jafferabad district in Baluchistan, that rekindled an honest discussion and debate on the status of women in rural and tribal Pakistan. To add insult to injury, Pakistani Senator Mir Israrullah Zehri defended this crime by arguing on the Senate floor that "It is a Baluch tribal tradition and we have to respect it". The Senator was then rewarded by the PPP government with a promotion as a member of the federal cabinet.

While the speaker of Pakistan's parliament is a woman and the representation of women in the legislature has grown dramatically, most of the women representatives are from the same privileged, feudal/tribal class that is largely responsible for discrimination against women in Pakistan. These women in parliament have not been particularly vocal in raising the women's issues and they have not offered any serious legislation other than the Women's Protection Bill that was offered and passed because of President Musharraf's personal intervention in the last parliament. The word "feudal princess" often used to describe late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto applies well to the majority the women members of parliament in Pakistan. There is a continuing large literacy gap of as much as 45 percent between men and women and the opportunities for rural women's education remain elusive.





Media reports indicate that Pakistani Taliban have been enforcing a complete ban on female education in the Swat district. Some 400 private schools enrolling 40,000 girls have been shut down. At least 10 girls' schools that tried to open after the January 15, 2009 deadline by the Taliban were blown up by the militants in the town of Mingora, the headquarters of the Swat district. More than 170 schools have been bombed or burned, along with other government-owned buildings.

According to Dawn newspaper, the 2008 report of violence against women in Pakistan makes horrific reading. In that year alone, 7,733 cases of violence against women were reported in the media. What is shocking is the large number of women who lost their lives in this period — 1,516 were murdered while 472 were killed for reasons of ‘honor’.

Overall, the World Economic Forum ranks South Asia and several Arab nations among the lowest in terms of economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment and health and well-being. The WEF 2005 survey shows that India ranks at 53 is just above Korea, Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt which occupy the last five positions in that order but below Bangladesh which gets the 39th slot. Seven predominantly Muslim nations covered by the study, Bangladesh (39) and Malaysia (40) outperform Indonesia (46), while Jordan (55), Pakistan (56), Turkey (57) and Egypt (58) occupy the bottom four ranks.

In summary, the Musharraf era saw some measurable progress in improving the status for women, in spite of the high-profile incidents such as the rape of Mukhtaran Mai. But the progress seems to have been halted and even rolled back under the feudal/tribal dominated PPP government. The appointment of the notorious tribal chiefs like Zehri and Bijarani as federal minister has clearly sent terribly wrong signals to the oppressors of women in Pakistan. What is really needed is a fundamental change in social attitudes toward women, particularly in rural and tribal Pakistan. A massive effort is required to make both men and women aware of the need and the benefits of women's empowerment for a better future of Pakistan. Healthy, educated and empowered women can help raise better children to build Pakistan as a modern society that cares for its people.

A number of non-governmental organizations such as AMAL, Aurat, HDF ,Edhi and other similar organizations deserve our support if we care for the enhancement of women's status in Pakistan.

Here's a video showing Pakistan's female commercial pilots:



Related Links:

Are Women Better Off in Pakistan Today?

Growing Insurgency in Swat

Religious Leaders Respond to Domestic Violence

Fighting Agents of Intolerance

A Woman Speaker: Another Token or Real Change

A Tale of Tribal Terror

Mukhtaran Mai-The Movie

World Economic Forum Survey of Gender Gap

Beheading in Buffalo: Domestic Violence or Honor Killing ?

Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan, founder of a Muslim-American TV network, is accused of beheading his wife, Aasiya, last week in Buffalo, New York, days after she filed for divorce, according to media reports.

The incident has shocked the Muslim-American community in upstate New York and the rest of the United States. The allegations against Mo Hassan are particularly devastating for the Muslims in North America because Hassans had founded Bridges TV network to fight negative stereotypes of Muslims after the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001.

The reports have triggered frenzied speculation as to the motives behind this murder. Was it an extreme case of domestic violence? Or was it an honor killing which sometime occur in couple's native Pakistan? So far, it seems the answer depends on the preconceived notions of the speculators. The well-known strident critics of Islam and Muslims in America have already concluded that it was an honor killing perpetrated by the husband, and they cite the beheading as method of killing as proof.

Rabbi Hirschfeld, a friend of the Hassans, said that Ms. Hassan had confided in him a few years ago about incidents of domestic abuse, but at the time she insisted that her husband was getting counseling. She later told Rabbi Hirschfeld that the counselor had told her she was safe, according to the New York Times.

“I knew there were issues in the marriage,” Rabbi Hirschfeld said. “I didn’t know it was this bad. My immediate response is horror and incredible sadness.”

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the police had responded in the past to domestic dispute calls at the Hassan house.

Unfortunately, the issue of domestic violence among Muslim-Americans is not unknown. Last year, International Herald Tribune talked with a Muslim-American woman who looked into this problem. "The Muslim community is under a lot of scrutiny, so they are reluctant to look within to face their problems because it will substantiate the arguments demonizing them," said Rafia Zakaria, a political science graduate student at Indiana University who is starting a legal defense fund for Muslim women. "It puts Muslim women in a difficult position because if they acknowledge their rights, they are seen as being in some kind of collusion with all those who are attacking Muslim men. So the question is how to speak out without adding to the stereotype that Muslim men are barbaric, oppressive, terrible people."

According to Dawn newspaper, the 2008 report of violence against women in Pakistan makes horrific reading. In that year alone, 7,733 cases of violence against women were reported in the media. What is shocking is the large number of women who lost their lives in this period — 1,516 were murdered while 472 were killed for reasons of ‘honor’.

A number of women organizations are offering shelter and counseling in response to the growing but hidden problem of domestic abuse among South Asian and Muslim families. Maitri and Nisa are prominent in this effort.

But it's not just a Muslim or Pakistani problem. It occurs in people of every class, race, religion, ethnicity and nationality. A woman is beaten up every 9 seconds in America. Every day four women die in this country as a result of domestic violence, the euphemism for murders and assaults by husbands and boyfriends. That's approximately 1,400 women a year, according to the FBI. The number of women who have been murdered by their intimate partners is greater than the number of soldiers killed in the Vietnam War. The problems of domestic violence tend to get worse during times of economic hardship. In the latest stimulus budget package, President Obama has allocated additional funds to stop violence against women. Specific Office on Violence Against Women investments in the Act include $175 million for the STOP (Services • Training • Officers • Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program and $50 million for the Transitional Housing Assistance Grant Program.

The use of specific incidents of violence and murder to demonize any particular religion or ethnicity does not help the victims. On the contrary, it can have the opposite effect of attempts to cover up the problems that lead to extreme violence like the tragic murder of Aasiya Hassan. It is important for those of us who genuinely care about the helpless victims to focus on understanding and dealing with the real causes of violence. Organizations such as NISA, Aurat Foundation and Maitri also deserve support in their noble effort to help the unfortunate victims.

Related Links:

Religious Leaders Respond to Domestic Violence

Fighting Agents of Intolerance

A Woman Speaker: Another Token or Real Change

A Tale of Tribal Terror