HONOUR KILLING: Pakistani parents say they killed daughter with acid for looking at a boy

Arrested Pakistani couple Mohammad Zafar and wife Zaheen Akhtar sit in their respective cells at a police station in Khoi Ratta, 140 kilometres north of Pakistani Kashmir’s main city Muzaffarabad, on Nov. 6, 2012. Sajjad Qayyum/AFP/Getty Images

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani couple accused of killing their 15-year-old daughter by pouring acid on her carried out the attack because she sullied the family’s honour by looking at a boy, the couple said in an interview broadcast Monday by the BBC.

The girl’s death underlines the issue of so-called “honour killings” in Pakistan where women are often killed for marrying or having relationships not approved by their families or because they are perceived to have somehow dishonoured their family.

The girl’s parents, Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen, recounted the Oct. 29 incident from jail. The father said the girl had turned to look at a boy who drove by on a motorcycle, and he told her it was wrong.

“She said ‘I didn’t do it on purpose. I won’t look again.’ By then I had already thrown the acid. It was her destiny to die this way,” the girl’s mother told the British broadcaster.

Television footage of the couple showed them standing behind bars in separate, but adjoining jail cells.

The father said the family had already come under public censure because of their older daughter’s behaviour, but he did not detail what exactly he meant.

Pakistani officials initially said the attack occurred because the girl supposedly had an affair with a boy.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, at least 943 women were killed in the name of honour last year. Only 20 of the women were reported to have been given medical care before they died, the report said. The real toll is believed to be higher because many of the crimes go unreported.

“Throughout the year, women were callously killed in the name of honour when they went against family wishes in any way, or even on the basis of suspicion that they did so. Women were sometimes killed in the name of honour over property disputes and inheritance rights,” the report said.

Honour killings are not isolated to Pakistan, as the tragic story of the Shafia family in Ontario can attest. Click here, here and here to read excerpts from a new book on the case.

Tags: honour killings

oceans41 says:

November 5, 2012 at 3:48 pm

So is it custom in Pakistan to carry around a container of acid, just in case? Acid bath in order for the parents who killed thier daughter for the most rediculous reason in the most horrific fashion. Canada should bring back Capital punishment, and 1st in line should “honour killing” murderers

Rocky says:

November 5, 2012 at 3:30 pm

Standard responses here. Apply Western ideals to a country that does not have the same way of life. I do not agree at all with taking the life of another person; however, it’s not fair to judge another society because you don’t understand it.

that guy says:

November 5, 2012 at 4:15 pm

Yes it is fair. There is nothing to understand here, attempting to understand would bring us back to uncivilized times that our society has gotten passed. It’s wrong and needs to stop, period. It is right for the people who know better, to try and stop these backward/primitive/uncivilized behaviors.

Mortimer says:

November 5, 2012 at 3:08 pm

A hideous example of how a personal belief can morph into a radical obsession and then into an insane act.

That guy says:

November 5, 2012 at 2:52 pm

There will never be true world peace as long as these types of beliefs exist. Anyone who supports the ‘values’ of these ‘honour’ killings is backward and un-enlightened.

Kaza says:

November 5, 2012 at 2:35 pm

Even animals couldn’t kill their own but these individuals seems to never be reluctant to take theirs just for the sake of honour.

the brain says:

November 5, 2012 at 2:28 pm

Pakistan is not allowed to used the word “civilization” in any way to describe their society.

“Jungle” maybe.

Max says:

November 5, 2012 at 1:54 pm

The so called “honour killing” is actually completely opposite of honorable. It is a disgusting norm in a terribly misguided society and thankfully has no part in Canada. I hope these sad parents rot.

Bob Porter says:

November 5, 2012 at 1:13 pm

How does 1 even comment on something as heinous is that. It makes me sick to my stomach that we consider Pakistan an ally.