Commenting on the newly enacted law on
karo-kari (honour killing), Kawish says that owing to
the pressure of human rights organizations, media and
other circles, the National Assembly approved the bill.
However, the haste in which it was adopted, in the absence
of the opposition, suggests that the government is not
serious in curbing the heinous crime.
It's for this reason that rights organizations
have expressed reservations about effectiveness of the
bill. Since the law has several loopholes, these organizations
say, it will not be helpful in eradicating the barbaric
practice. According to the new law, honour killing is
pardonable, like an ordinary murder, and the heir of a
victim can forgive a killer on the basis of the Qisas
and Diyat Ordinance (QDO).
Under the tradition of karo-kari, women
are killed by their husbands, brothers or other family
members and the heirs being close relatives of the killers
usually pardon them. The paper says that honour killing
should have been made an unpardonable crime so that killers
do not get any relief from the QDO.
Enforcement of the law will also pose
a problem. In a feudal society there exists an unholy
alliance between feudal lords/tribal chieftains and police,
and there is little hope that the law will be fully enforced.
If serious efforts are not made by the administration
to ensure its implementation, this bill, like several
other pieces of legislation, will just be another addition
to the statute book and parliament's record.
The official attitude, the paper says,
can be gauged from the fact that a proposal to legalize
the jirga system is being actively considered by the Sindh
government. Under the system, a murder is pardoned against
another, feudal lords/tribal chieftains issue orders for
killing women and puts kari women up for auction. By giving
a legal cover to the jirga system, won't the authorities
negate the karo-kari law, the paper asks.
Awami Awaz takes up the issue of illegal
detentions and says that the recent release of 22 illegal
detainees from a Sukkur police station reveals that the
force has no regard for law. The fact that no police official
has ever been punished for unlawfully detaining people
encourages them to persist with the illegal practice.
Therefore, courts should not only order release of illegal
detainees but also punishment of perpetrators of the crime
as a deterrent for others.
Commenting on a prison riot in Jacobabad,
Ibrat says that the incident again reveals nasty conditions
in Sindh jails. On the one hand, the prisons are overcrowded
and, on the other, the inmates do not get facilities in
accordance with the jail manual. To add insult to injury,
prison staff force prisoners and their visitors to bribe
them in order to get what they are entitled to. This often
leads to scuffles and riots in prisons.The paper calls
upon the provincial government to improve the lot of prisoners
otherwise, it warns, prison riots may take the form of
jailbreaks.
