Significant increase from figures of 2019: Many murders result of property disputes covered as Karo Kari

SUKKUR: A harrowing 98 people, including including 61 women and 37 men, were killed by Karo Kari in six months across Sindh, in what is a damning indictment of the government and the law enforcement agencies of the province.

The report was released by a local NGO, Sindh Sahai Seth, at the Sukkur Press Club. Dr. Ayesha Hassan Dharejo, chairperson of the NGO, along with other members of the organisation including lawyers Hadi Bakhsh Butt, Sohail Memon, Rizwana Memon, renowned scholar Dr. Adal Soomro and Dr. Ali Akbar Naich, made the disturbing disclosure.

Dr Ayesha said that 98 people, including 61 women and 37 men, lost their lives in the last six months of the current year due to the repulsive and outlawed tribal tradition in different cities of Sindh. Terming northern Sindh as a virtual slaughter house for those contracting free will marriage, she said district Jacobabad led the rest of the province with the cold blooded murder of 18 women. The districts of Ghotki and Shikarpur stood second in the bloody tradition with 17 murders each.

As many as 14 cases were reported from Kashmore, five from Sukkur, three from Hyderabad and 24 others from other parts of the province. This is an alarming increase in the violent deaths from 2019 when in the corresponding period of first six months, 78 individuals, including 50 women, fell victim to the gruesome tradition, Dr Ayesha said.

Citing reasons for the horrifying culture in the tribal and village culture, she said many of the killings are the outcome of property disputes which are projected as free will marriage and the accused simply get away. Furthermore, poverty, illiteracy and lack of awareness were also cited as the main causes of Karo Kari within a tribal culture.

While appreciating the tabling of women protection bill, she said a lot more needs to be done if the government is serious to control this horrid trend. The NGO called for drafting and passing special laws like those dealing with corruption, narcotics and terrorism to suppress the trend. Under these laws, the perpetrators who are mostly close relatives must be prosecuted and convicted without the option of being forgiven by parents.