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The meaning of "karo-kari", it consists of two words, the first ‘karo’ means the male person and the second one, ‘kari’, stands for female accused. The both are called black and they are liable to death according to this tradition.
In a recent report prepared by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the centuries-old customary murders, claims more than 400 lives every year in Sindh alone.
According to the report all victims were killed either by their relatives, spouses or others in Karo-kari events. The report reveals that out of 200 accused, arrested for their involvement in honour killing, only eight could be prosecuted and punished.
FEUDAL IN POLITICS:
Not only in Sindh, but also in Pakistan generally, working for Human rights, and/or Women’s rights, or any injustice in the society is responded to by authorities as though the advocate is a criminal. Thus, many human rights workers are either killed, commit suicide, or are forced into exile. For the past many years, families belonging to the feudal and wadera classes have been ruling the country, whereas the poor and oppressed people are not only deprived of their basic rights but also of the right to rule. The country’s fundamentalist forces and the Army Generals are the protectors of this medieval feudal system; therefore, they are against those who speak against oppression.
Similarly, the status of women’s education in Sindh is deplorable. For the feudal landlords, there are few – if any - benefits that could arise from having educated serfs. The landlords know that education of the “serfs” can only lead to the downfall of their perverse social system, as educated men and women will not tolerate to be treated like slaves. For this reason, the landlord class has opposed universal primary education from the very beginning of Sindh’s history, and to this day, their efforts have succeeded. Rural Sindh, which is the heart of the feudal system, has an almost non-existent education system, especially for girls. The female literacy rate in Sindhi villages was only 13% in the 1997 census.
The prevalent feudal system in the country has polarized every dimension of human life, especially with regards to the treatment of women. Until changes are made, the country can neither progress nor prosper.
WHAT CAN BE DONE:
In terms of the possibility for women’s rights to be achieved in Sindh and the rest of Pakistan, it should by now be clear to any and all interested in the issue that the question of women’s rights belongs to the realm of democratic and human rights. Given the fragility of the democratic process in Sindh and in Pakistan as a whole, the only groups with a long-term stake in the institutionalisation of such rights are the most oppressed strata in Pakistan society - that is, the producing classes. These are also the only classes capable of creating a genuine democracy in the Pakistani context. It is to an alliance with these classes that women must turn if they are to ensure their rights. This is by no means an easy task. Proponents of human rights must also demand a secular society. As long as religion continues to be interlinked with the State, any gains we achieve will be incomplete.
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Writer Profile
Aftab Khan
25 years old Electronics & Computer System Engineer by Education and an activist of Human rights and Women Rights. Presently living in exile in Sweden since october 2003 due to the involvment in a campaign against the injustice in the society and undemocratic Military Government in Pakistan
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