Last week two honour killing cases attracted media attention worldwide in which three persons including two women were brutally killed by their family members. In one case, a 56 years old man killed his daughter and son-in-law in Lahore for marrying without the family’s consent while in another case a mother burnt her daughter alive for eloping and marrying without her permission.

News reports about these incidents were published in almost all the widely read newspapers around the world. Nobody said that these incidents have brought a bad name to our country as they said about Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy when she won the Oscar earlier this year for her documentary regarding honour killings. This is where problem begins. We halfheartedly condemn such barbaric acts and wholeheartedly criticize anyone who highlights such issues.

The aforementioned incidents reminded us of the meeting of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy with the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in February in which the Prime Minister pledged to close the loopholes in the law regarding honour killings that allows many perpetrators of the “honour” killings to go free. It is very unfortunate that government has not even tried to change the existing laws or legislate new laws.

Even so, not even the 33% women parliamentarians have made any effort in this regard. One possible reason is that there is wide support for the tradition under Islamic law that allows murderers to avoid punishment if they are forgiven by the family of their victims. However, in most cases the victim’s family is pressurized and they are forced to make a deal.

The religious political parties have already vowed to resist any plan to reform these laws. Council of Islamic Ideology, which is responsible for giving legal advice on Islamic issues to the government, is busy only to decide the intensity of beating for wives of the faithful. So at the moment, reforms in these laws seem unlikely.

According to the Aurat Foundation, a women rights group, about 1,000 women are killed every year in incidents related to honour killings. Only a few of these incidents are reported in media. It happens every year. The government, media, civil society and we, the common lot, express our grief and condemn these acts but nobody is ready to take a step to stop this epidemic.

The government needs to reform the concerned laws. Toughening up the existing laws would help improve the existing condition. We have to send the guilty to jail so people begin to understand that taking someone’s life is a big deal and merits a lengthy jail sentence.

However, to completely eradicate this problem, we need to change the mindset which is a long term process. We need to review our societal norms and values. We need to empower women and other oppressed sections of our society. We need to create awareness among masses that every single life matters.