On January 14, Sher Muhammad, a teacher, was on his way to the government school where he teaches when he received a call from a friend to inform him that somebody had shot his 13-year-old son in the bazaar.

On reaching the place, Sher Muhammad found Salahuddin lying in a pool of blood.

“I screamed and asked those gathered there who had murdered my son. Some of them said the boy was an izzat chor and a woman had also been killed in her house in the village,” Sher Muhammad said.

The ‘honour’ killing incident occurred in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Kohistan district. “My son was innocent. This kufri qanoon (heathen law) has snatched my child’s life away,” Sher Muhammad says.

Farhad Ali, deputed at the Bisham police station, says Salahuddin was shot dead by Taj Muhammad, the husband of Safia.

“On January 13, Safia, a 19-year-old girl, came to the police station. She stated that she had fled her husband’s home as her in-laws had been beating her up. We registered a case and presented Safia in the session’s court. The judge directed us to send Safia to a Darul Aman. Later, her father, Umar Daraz, requested the court to let Safia go with him. The next day we were informed that Safia had been shot dead,” Farhad Ali says.

In a subsequent FIR, Umar Daraz said that his son-in-law Taj Muhammad had shot his daughter dead and later killed a boy in the bazaar.

Later, a policeman investigating the murders was also shot dead. “My cousin, Fazal Rehman, was in his uniform and performing his professional duty when a man called Muhammad Haq shot him from behind,” Fazl Rabi, a cousin of the slain policeman, reports.

‘Honour’ killings are common in the area.

In a post on social media after the incident, Muhammad Jehangir, a social activist, said that ‘honour’ killings and ghag are savage customs. “Due to a lack of education and unlawful customs, ghag and ‘honour’ killings are still being practiced.”

Sanaullah Hashmi, another activist, says he feels embarrassed when he hears about ‘honour’ killing incidents in Kohistan.

Maulana Ahmad Ali from Pattan says the practice is un-Islamic. “These are practices that have defaced our society. These will only end if the perpetrators are punished,” he says.

Hafeezur Rehman, a social activist from Upper Kohistan, says the young student and the slain woman were innocent. “Such killings should be stopped. This has gone on for too long in Kohistan,” he says.

“On January 13, a 19-year-old girl came to the police station, stating that she had fled her husband’s home as her in-laws had been beating her up. We presented Safia in the sessions’ court. The judge directed us to send Safia to a Darul Aman. Later, she was allowed to go with her father, Umar Daraz. The next day we were informed that Safia had been shot dead,” says Farhad Ali of Bisham police.

“This has become a transparent ruse. People kill somebody and then claim an ‘honour’ to escape criminal prosecution. This is not going to end unless police take firm and consistent action. All three districts of the division have seen such crimes on account of lack of religious education and rule of law,” he says.

Lower Kohistan police records show that 32 ‘honour’ killing FIRs have been registered in the past 10 years. A total of 46 people, 23 women and 23 men, have been murdered so far.

Data from the Upper Kohistan police shows that 20 cases of ‘honour’ killing were registered from 2018 to 2022 in which 14 men and 20 women were killed. Fourteen people were murdered in 2021 alone.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), 81 honour killing cases were reported in 2020 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Zulfiqar Jadoon, the Lower Kohistan district police officer, says four suspects have been arrested so far.

“The biggest issue is that in ‘honour’ killing cases, most families refuse to record their statements,” the DPO says. “Honour’ killing cases are mostly reported from Ranolia area. Seminars have been held to discourage ‘honour’ killings and create awareness among the public for eliminating this crime,” he says.

Tahir Iqbal, the Upper Kohistan district police officer, says police are actively pursuing these cases.

“People are murdered for various reasons. Then it is turned into an ‘honour’ killing,” the DPO says. “There are flaws in the law. This allows the plaintiff to ‘forgive’ the murderer.”

Samar Minallah, a women rights activist, says the very concept of ‘honor’ is twisted and has been modified to suit the needs and preferences of powerful people in the society. “It shows the status of women in our society. A woman can be killed in the name of ‘honour’ to retain the property within the family. A woman can also be murdered on mere suspicion to bolster the family’s ‘honour’. There is a famous Pashto saying: whoever does not have ‘honour’, will die in a desolate place,” she says.

“The biggest challenge is the mindset of the general public, state institutions and the media. In cases like the Kohistan video, there was sheer insensitivity at all levels. The focus has been on the victims’ character and not the actual murder. Men who stand for the rights of women need to be seen as ‘honourable’ and not those who murder women to restore ‘honour’ out of cultural expectation. Women will continue to be killed unless there is rule of law,” she says.

The writer is a freelance journalist, writes on human rights, tourism and education. He tweets at umar_shangla