June 1, 2024
By Dauran Baloch
KOHLU
The dusty settlement of Goth Sarangani in tehsil Jhal Magsi, district Kolhu rarely makes it to the news. Not many know of its reputation as a place where violence against women reigns with impunity – specifically honour based killings – murders carried out only on mere allegations of ‘bad reputation’.
Such an incident took place in the blazing afternoon heat of May 25 in the Sarangani village, where three people were killed all together. The Zubaida the widow of one Qamaruddin Magsi could not stand a chance when Yasir Ali, son of Mehboob Ali, from the Chandio tribe of Larkana, Sindh, was found hiding in her home.
It was alleged that Yasir and Zubaida were involved in a relationship and on the fated afternoon, he hid inside a chest in Zubaida’s house. When one of her family members, Shahmir Magsi, opened the chest where he was hiding, Yasir instantly fired at him killing him on the spot.
Other relatives inside the house hearing the gunfire rushed to the spot and began shooting at Yasir and Zubaida, killing them both.
Upon receiving the report, the Jhal Magsi Levies Force arrived at the scene and took the bodies into custody, handing them over to the families after completing the necessary formalities.
Soobha Khan, the SHO Levies Police Station told Voicepk, that an FIR had been registered at the Jhal Magsi police station against unknown individuals through complainant Muhammad Azam, son of Shahmir Magsi. He said the district administration and Levies Force will act based on the families’ identification and nomination of the accused to bring them to justice.
“Those who commit such acts in the name of honor do not deserve any leniency,” he said.
Human rights defenders from Balochistan also condemned the act of taking the law into their own hands, and stressed the need for legal action and justice.
In Kolhu also a 55 year old woman was murdered on pretext of honour. Reports say that honour killing is rampant in this entire region because of the strict tribal culture. Many honour based killings even go unreported. In 2021, a total of 57 women were killed in Balochistan, out of which 28 were honour based killings. In 2023, according to HRCP there was a high rate of domestic violence at 48 percent which women in Balochistan had to face. There were 28 victims of honour based killings in 2023 according to statistics provided by the Balochistan police.
In 2021 there were 49 honour killing cases, with most of the cases reported in Naseerabad district as 27 incidents occurred in this district alone, followed by Jaffarabad and Mastung with five cases each. Two cases each were reported from Zhob and Quetta districts and two from Kalat and Kohlu each.
But the worrisome aspect is that while women and even young girls lose their lives in decisions made by trial jirgas, their ‘suitors’ are spared. The men who face the jirgah for having relationships with women, are spared by being asked to pay large sums of money. Women are killed in the name of honour or Karo Kari, raped, gang-raped, abducted and targeted in domestic violence cases.
But very few cases make it to the media. A large number of cases are not reported to even the police and very few of them are covered by media.