September 7th, 2020
By Shafique Shar
SUKKUR
In a heart-rending incident, a husband and wife were brutally killed in front of their eight-month-old son, for having married of their own free will three years ago.
The bodies of 25-year-old Ali Dino Lashari and his 22-year-old wife Shamma were discovered last week in their residence in the Golimar Road area within the precincts of SITE area police station in Sukkur. The couple had eloped from their homes in Usta Muhammad in Balochistan around three years ago and had a son together. But on September 3, the two were attacked by a group of intruders while they were sleeping and decapitated in the presence of their eight-month-old son.
Police believe that the two were executed for insulting their families dignity and ‘honour’ by eloping and marrying of their free will. A case has been registered on the state’s behalf against Sultan Lashari, Babal, Shaan and Imran Lashari among four others. While Sultan Lashari is under police custody, the search is still ongoing for the remaining suspects. Ali and Shamma’s orphaned son has been handed over to his grandfather in Usta Muhammad.
According to the Honour Based Violence Awareness Network (HBVAN), India and Pakistan have the highest number of reported and estimated honour killings of any country in the world, accounting for 1,000 documented cases each out of the global average of 5,000. Although India has taken more concrete steps to address the issue, such as levying harsher sentences for honour-based crimes, Pakistan’ attitude toward eradicating “honour” culture has been severely lacking, due to a combination of strong social and religious traditions, a culture of impunity, and a severely defunct justice system.