Honour killing in Pakistan

Karo-kari is part of a tradition in Pakistan whereby an individual can kill another individual (can be female or less often male), claiming that murder victim brought dishonour to the family, and still expect to be pardoned by the relatives of the victim. Once such a pardon has been secured, the state has no further writ on the matter.

Karo kari is a compound word literally meaning "black male" and "black female," metaphoric terms for adulterer and adulteress. Being so labelled leads more often than not to the murder of both man and woman allegedly guilty of having an illicit affair.

Human rights agencies in Pakistan have repeatedly emphasised that most women falling prey to karo-kari were usually those wanting to marry of their own will. In many cases, the victims held properties that the male members of their families did not wish to lose if the women chose to marry outside the family.

Karo-kari is not structly speaking an honour killing and more often than not, many scores are settled which mainly are related to the inheritance problem or feud-settling or just to get rid of wife to re-marry.

Over 4,000 women have fallen victim to this practice in Pakistan over last six years (2002-2008). Of the victims, almost 2,700 were women and just over 1,300 were men . The highest rate of the practice of Karo-kari were in Punjab, followed by the Sindh province. Lesser number of cases have also been reported in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and in Balochistan.

See also

• Honor killing