Pashaura Singh Dhillon

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This week’s topic: Honor Killings

Honor killings are generally thought to be rampant in orthodox and socially backward groups around the world. Although it is believed to be more prevalent in Middle Eastern and South East Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories,  ”developed” countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Sweden and many other parts of Europe have also witnessed such crimes. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), there may be a total of 5,000 honor-killing victims per year.

We all perceive honor in different ways and those who engage in honor killings imagine that they have somehow been dishonored and killing one’s own daughter, wife, daughter-in-law,  or even mother,  will somehow rectify that honor.

Poonam Singh, the editor of Preet Lari, recently sent me this great link to an online book (in English) on a related matter written by an Indian writer Sita Aggarwal, whose sister was burned alive for not bringing a high enough dowry with her.

The book is available for free at http://preetlari.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/

Sita presents an interesting argument. She argues that the flames of honor killings have been fanned by receiving support from religion. In her case, the Hindu rellgion. Perhaps there are other religions out there that either endorse honor killings or are vague on their position in regards to it.

But what about the followers of modern religions like Sikhism where there is no ambiguity? Five hundred some years ago, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism, unequivocally condemned this inequality in no uncertain terms and preached for the equality of all human beings regardless of their color, cast, creed, gender, or anything else for that matter. And yet, even with specific affirmation of women’s equal social status and the condemnation of “Honor” killings, Punjabis seem to be at the forefront in this regard (both East and West). My question is Why?

On the other side of women’s rights is an article published in the July issue of Tribune India by Swati Sharma titled, “Illicit affairs meet a gory end all too often“ By the title, you can guess what the writer’s main argument is. Fears by some people is that more freedom to women is encouraging  avoidable divorces, which impact the children and can be severely tormenting for them.  Not exactly a related matter, but
equally tormenting for the children is an extramarital affair of a parent. Swati Sharma, a woman herself incidentally, writes in the Tribune News Service highlighting this. She narrates two stories where the wives colluded with lovers to eliminate husbands of several years and one in which a youth repeatedly stabbed his mother’s lover to death in January 2007. Sunil, 19, was reportedly fed up with the ‘humilliation’he said he had to face due to his mother’s liasion.

What do you think? What is the cause of Honor Killings and what, if anything, can we as a society do to change the culture that accepts this?