Activists sceptical about new law designed to reduce honour killings

Pakistani President General Musharraf on Tuesday gave his assent to a bill setting out enhanced punishment for honour crimes - usually carried out against women and girls who "offend the honour of the family". But women's rights activists are not convinced the law will have any impact on the widespread problem. "It won't make any difference. It has just increased the punishment to 25 years in prison, but that remains discretionary," Sadia Mumtaz, coordinator of the Legislative Watch Programme (LWP) of the women's rights body, Aurat Foundation, told IRIN in the capital Islamabad. "In most of honour-killing cases, the killer is from the same family, often an immediate blood relative, but with discretionary powers and the option of financial settlement with the guardian of the female murdered, this is like giving a licence to kill," Mumtaz said. Musharraf had earlier called for a law banning honour killings "to lend more strength to Pakistan's efforts to do away with this intolerable practice", he said at the time. Following his call, the lower house of parliament strengthened a law against honour killing, which was subsequently passed by the upper house on 7 December. The bill provides for the enhancement of punishment of honour-related crimes committed in the name of customary practices. According to a local NGO, Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA), some 1,458 women were murdered during the year 2004, while the number of total reported cases of violence against women last year stands at above 4,300. The struggle for women's rights in Pakistan has gained momentum following recent court decisions. Last April a high court decision banned all trials conducted under the traditional system of Jirga in the southern province of Sindh. In another positive move, the high court in Karachi allowed a Sindhi couple from different tribes to remain together following their marriage. The couple later moved out of the country and settled in Norway, with the help of rights activists. Women's rights activists admit that there has been some progress. "But hurdles remain in the legislation and policies dealing with women, and we need to focus our struggle on the removal of those drawbacks," said Aqsa Khan, who works on a programme against sexual harassment at Actionaid, the international developmental charity. Nuzhat Shirin, coordinator of the Sindh chapter of the Aurat Foundation, called for "political will on the part of political parties and legislatures to make a real change in the miserable lives of women. These parties make pledges while contesting elections, but after that their priorities change, that's why we are lagging behind in our struggle," she told IRIN from Karachi. Rights organisations have long been struggling for the repeal of laws that continue to discriminate against women. "Our patriarchal system is continuously being strengthened in some way or the other. Until the attitude towards women changes as a whole, alone with the perception of women as a mere commodity, the struggle continues," Khan said.