Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                  Pakistani PM Demands Action on Honor Killing

   by VOA News

   Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is demanding immediate action
   following the brutal killing of a pregnant woman by her family for
   marrying a man of her choice.
   Police say 25-year-old Farzana Parveen was beaten with bricks outside a
   courthouse in the eastern city of Lahore earlier this week as she
   waited to tell a judge she married a man of her own free will.
     'Her husband told reporters he begged police to stop the attack, but
   they stood by and did nothing as his wife's family members, including
   her father and brothers, beat her. But Lahore Police Chief Shafiq Ahmad
   told Reuters news agency that no police were present during the attack.
   On Thursday, Prime Minister Sharif issued a statement directing the
   chief minister of Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital, to
   take immediate action and submit a report on the "unacceptable" crime
   by late Thursday.
   United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on
   Wednesday urged the Pakistani government to do more to prevent such
   killings.
   "I do not even wish to use the phrase 'honor killing'; there is not the
   faintest vestige of honor in killing a woman in this way," she said.
   The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan saids nearly 900 women died in
   such crimes in 2013. The commission says the actual number may be much
   higher, since many honor killings go unreported.
   Since almost no one is tried and convicted for such killings, rights
   groups say it is no surprise that "honor crimes" are on the rise in
   Pakistan. The culprits, they say, usually are freed - either acquitted
   due to intentionally flawed police investigations, released as a result
   of political influence or "pardoned" by victims or their relatives.
   U.N. High Commissioner Pillay said the fact that the woman was killed
   on the way to court "shows a serious failure by the state to provide
   security for someone who - given how common such killings are in
   Pakistan - was obviously at risk."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/pakistani-pm-demands-action-on-honor-
   killing/1925119.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/pakistani-pm-demands-action-on-honor-killing/1925119.html