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Honor Killing In Pakistan: Christian Brother Beats Sister To Death For Attempting To Marry Boyfriend – Father Files Report Against Own Son

By Alap Naik Desai
Published on: 03:11 PST, Jun 17, 2016

In yet another case of honor killing in Pakistan, a brother beat his sister to death for attempting to marry her boyfriend. The attack happened in the family’s home with their father as a silent spectator to the horror. However, it was the father who filed the police report against his own son and got him arrested.

A girl in her late teens in Pakistan was reportedly killed by her own brother this week. The girl died from injuries sustained to her head. According to local media, the brother smashed her head in with a large wooden stick because he did not approve of her marrying her boyfriend. As per the police report, which was filed by the siblings’ father, Anum Ishaq Masih, a 19-year-old girl, was killed by her brother, Saqib Masih, on the evening on June 10, reported CNN.

The 21-year-old youth, who is currently in police custody located in the city of Sialkot, doesn’t deny his crime, but adds that he did not intend to murder his sister.

“She wanted to marry, we didn’t agree on this wedding. We were arguing. She was my sister. I didn’t mean to kill her. I’ve been crying ever since. She was my sister.”

Shamoon Gill, a Christian activist, confirmed the incident, adding the family was Christian. He categorically noted that while honor killings are quite common in Pakistan, they are a very rare occurrence among the Christian community residing in the country,

“It has nothing to do with religion but is part of a social issue that is deeply rooted in the eastern societies. Most of the Christians and even Hindus are converts. They have converted but there are still some elements of tribal society.”

What Gill was trying to imply was the gruesome reality about crimes committed against women under the pretext of honor killing. Hundreds of innocent girls and women are murdered by their own relatives in Pakistan each year, reported the Daily Mail. The families defend the crime by stressing they were only trying to protect their family’s honor.

According to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, violence against women is quite common, but majority of the cases are never reported to the police as the barbaric practice is still condoned in many parts of the country. Social workers active in Pakistan lament that the number of reported cases do not reflect the full extent of the issue. Honor killings still have a place in the country’s rural and semi-urban regions and do have a lot of support, ensuring the crimes never reach the law.

The problem of honor killing has only risen in the past few years. Between 1998 and 2004, over 4,000 cases of honor killings were reported in Pakistan, with almost 2,700 of the victims being women, and just over 1,300 men, reported Crux Now. Since the beginning of this year alone, more than 200 women have been killed in the name of “honor.”

Incidentally, not all cases end in death. The crimes are essentially harsh punishments that are meted out to girls who have “misbehaved.” Their crimes can be as petty as befriending a male member or expressing desire to marry against the wishes of the elders in the family. Families usually attempt to “discipline” the girl with lashes or restrict her food to “teach her a lesson” but more often than not, the atrocities escalate quickly into such crimes.

The case of Anum is very similar to hundreds of other girls, who wished to marry a boy, who the girls’ families did not approve. However, what began as a quarrel between two siblings, ended with the death of the girl. The Inquisitr had recently reported about similar instances of honor killings.

[Photo by John Moore/Getty Images]

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