By MP Khan, a Ph.D. Scholar
A terrible story that has sliced through society’s outer layer and revealed the festering rot underneath has emerged in the vast, sun-scorched region of Baluchistan, where centuries-old customs cling to the mountains like moss on stone.
Love as a Crime: The Murder of a Young Couple
A young couple was brutally murdered in a grainy, trembling video that went viral online a few months ago. Love was the only sin they committed. Their sole goal was to live as free human beings, bound together by mutual love and choice rather than by force or familial arrangement. They took off running. They broke with tradition for a year and a half. They remained hidden from the unwritten laws of men who mistake power for honour and retaliation for justice, rather than from the laws of the land.
A Return Marked by Betrayal and Bloodshed
The girl and boy, who were probably only in their twenties, thought they had outlived death. They were mistaken. They returned with hope possibly naiveté in their hearts after being enticed back by promises of reconciliation and forgiveness purportedly made under the authority of a tribal Jirga.
A Verdict Without Mercy
However, they were not granted clemency by the Jirga that called them. It handed down a bloody verdict. The boy was put to death by a single, lethal shot. The girl trailed behind, bullet-riddled. An eerie last picture showed a woman standing with the Quran pressed to her chest, trembling and pleading for mercy in a silent plea. The very men who later claimed to be its defenders disregarded that sacred text, which speaks of justice, compassion, and the sanctity of life.
Honour Killings: A Symptom of Systemic Rot
This cruel deed is not an isolated occurrence. It is a sign of a moral epidemic rather than a moment of insanity. Every alleged honour killing in Pakistan serves as a reminder that there is a serious, unresolved crisis at the heart of our discourse on democracy, development, and faith a crisis of fundamental humanity, values, and the rule of law. Baluchistan’s tragedy is neither unusual nor unique. It is just another chapter in a lengthy and sinister history of impunity. And the blood will keep flowing unless we address the underlying system that permits and justifies such cruelty.
Tribal Power and the Control of Women’s Agency
Let’s start with the fundamental contradiction: the murderers of this couple are neither rogue terrorists nor foreign militants. They are neither ideological fanatics nor political rebels. They are neighbors, brothers, and cousins ordinary men who have been given extraordinary power by an antiquated tribal order that continues to rule over large swaths of the nation with terrifying authority. Despite their claims to respect “honour,” these men’s actions betray a much darker motivation: an obsession with controlling the agency of women.
Faith Misused: Religion as a Cover for Violence
They see a woman’s decision as a challenge to the fundamental tenets of male dominance. And it turns into an unforgivable act of rebellion when that decision is love unapproved, unplanned, and unpermitted. Let’s be clear: Islam has nothing to do with this barbarism. This obsession with female chastity, male dominance, and social conformity has long been covered up by religious rhetoric. The killing of innocent people is expressly and repeatedly forbidden by the Quran.
A Perversion of Sacred Teachings
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) supported women’s dignity and denounced tribal retaliation. No Hadith or verse in the Quran condones honour killing. The sacred texts, on the other hand, support mercy, forgiveness, love, and life. What transpired in Baluchistan was a hideous perversion of faith rather than its expression. In addition to murdering a human being, men who kill in the name of Islam while citing the Quran as justification is blaspheming the religion they purport to defend.
The Role of Jirgas in Undermining Justice
It is impossible to overestimate the Jirga’s significance in this situation. These unofficial, tribal courts function outside the bounds of the legal system, the Constitution, and all accepted legal standards. Nevertheless, they still have a significant impact in Pakistan’s rural and semi-urban areas. Jirga’s are frequently used by politicians, government officials, and even law enforcement to settle conflicts “peacefully” a euphemism that frequently refers to discreetly, without documentation, and without accountability.
Kangaroo Courts and the Erosion of State Authority
These bodies actually serve as kangaroo courts, administering medieval penalties for fictitious offenses. They directly challenge the state’s writ. They sabotage the legal system, punish dissent, and uphold patriarchy rather than resolving conflict. The political environment in which the Baluchistan tragedy took place is what makes it even more damning. We are repeatedly informed that Baluchistan is a wounded province, where justice is frequently denied, insurgents struggle for their rights, and the legitimacy of the state is questioned. These are legitimate worries.
Justice Denied Within Communities That Demand It
However, one must wonder: justice for whom? This is evident when the very communities that call on the state to provide justice turn around and perpetrate heinous acts of injustice among themselves. What is freedom from? Such nationalism is vacuous if self-determination entails the authority to murder daughters out of pride. If women are brutally suppressed alongside opposition to central authority, this is not liberation; rather, it is tyranny in disguise. In Pakistan, progressive voices all too frequently keep quiet about honour killings.
Honour Killings Are a National Emergency
The problem is written off as a “private matter,” a “rural phenomenon,” or a “cultural problem.” However, this is a national emergency. The killing of women and girls in the name of honour is a systemic failure of the state and society, not a peculiarity of any tribe. It displays the cowardice of our political leadership, the hypocrisy of our religious discourse, and the frailty of our legal system. It reveals the profound cracks in our moral cosmos. Here, the state has a definite obligation.
Legal Reform Without Enforcement Is Hollow
Pakistani law already makes honour killings illegal, particularly in light of historic changes made in 2016 that eliminated the legal loophole known as diyat (heirs’ forgiveness). However, implementation is still lacking in teeth. Local influence frequently taints police investigations. The prosecution is sluggish. Witnesses are kept silent. Additionally, judges frequently acquit the accused due to pressure from local sentiments or tainted evidence.
The Judiciary’s Role in Ending Impunity
Will the murderers in this case be taken into custody? Are they going to be put to the test? Or will they be accepted back as “defenders of honour” and walk free like the hundreds who came before them? This challenge must be met by the judiciary as well. Ambiguity cannot exist. Such killings must be deemed by courts to be both unlawful and morally repugnant.
Silence Is Complicity: The State Must Act
The weight of a country’s conscience rests on each judge who hears a case like this. The blood is allowed to dry undisturbed by any prosecutor who abstains from their duties. Any police officer who declines to file a case is considered an accomplice. Instead of whispering, the law must thunder. Furthermore, the state must behave like a state and not a contrite spectator. However, laws won’t stop this epidemic on their own. We have to alter the narrative.
Redefining Honour: From Control to Compassion
The very idea of “honour” that motivates these killings needs to be questioned. Honour does not belong to domineering women. Blood is not needed. True honour is found in defending the weak, maintaining the rule of law, and letting love thrive in the face of fear. Our sons need to learn that female autonomy does not undermine masculinity. Our daughters need to learn that their lives are important because they belong to them, not because they belong to someone else.
A Moral Revolution Begins with Education and Media
This moral revolution requires the involvement of the media, the clergy, and the educational system. Mosque pulpits should resound with verses of mercy rather than threats. Consent, dignity, and gender equality must be taught in school textbooks. It is imperative for journalists to reveal not just the murders but also the culture that condones them. The voices of survivors, mothers who lost daughters, girls who managed to flee, and boys who chose not to pull the trigger must also be amplified by civil society.
A Nation at the Crossroads: Tradition or Truth?
Pakistan is at a turning point, not only between tradition and modernity, but also between life and death. We have two options: either we decide to create a country in which love is not a death sentence, or we keep moving in the direction of moral decay. We can either face our contradictions or bury our dead in the sand and act as though their cries were in vain. Remembering the faces of the dead is important. Let’s not let the desert engulf their narrative. They were young. They had fallen in love. They had a lot of dreams. Instead of a funeral, they should have had a wedding. Instead of a grave, they deserved a future.
Truth Must Be Our Weapon Against Honour-Based Violence
We must at least tell them the truth if we are unable to provide them with justice. And that truth needs to be inscribed in the ink of reform, law, and conscience rather than in the blood of more innocent people. Our collective soul will continue to bear the stain of honour until we face it head
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