Two brothers held for the murder of their sister in Pakistan

In the jurisdiction of Wah Saddar police station, two brothers have been arrested for allegedly murdering their sister over a family dispute in June of 2019.

A police officer told Dawn that one of the two brothers had reported to the police that his sister was shot dead by an unknown person and that her body was found near their house. While investigating the incident, the police got various clues and subsequently interrogated both brothers to the victim. The brothers eventually confessed that they were the ones taking their sister’s life because of a dispute within the family (Dawn, 2021).

This incident is a classic example of so-called honour-based violence, a phenomenon in which a person is subjected to severe violence by his or her collective family or community in order to restore the so-called “honour”, presumed to be lost by that person’s behavior (Honour Based Violence Awareness Network, 2021).

Dawn (2021, September 19) “Brothers held for killing sister” https://www.dawn.com/news/1647123/brothers-held-for-killing-sister. 

Honour Based Violence Awareness Network (2021) FAQ http://hbvawareness.com/faq/#eleven.  

Amnesty International (2014, July 2) “Shocking: surge of honor killings in Pakistan” https://www.amnestyusa.org/shocking-surge-of-honor-killings-in-pakistan/.