“No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility.” – Simone de Beauvoir
We live in a society where women’s personal sovereignty is seen as a threat to male supremacy and androcentrism. At the end of July 2025, an egregious video was circulating on social media; a couple identified as Bano Bibi and Ehsan Ullah was murdered in cold blood over the judgement of a Jirga (a village council). The incident reportedly took place in Quetta, Balochistan. The woman made her last statement in the Brahui language: ‘Only shooting is allowed, nothing else.’ The offense that prompted this punishment was a marriage without the family’s approval; what the couple exercised was a basic human right honored and protected in Islam.
The footage grabbed massive attention online, eliciting anger, disgust, and demand for justice. From political figures to human rights activists to the populace, all were seen denouncing this heinous honor killing. Chairman PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, called the suspects ‘beasts’ and made a plea for swift justice. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif strongly condemned the killing and addressed the people of Balochistan to stand up themselves against the unjust system around them. Additionally, the General Secretary of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan spoke to Al Jazeera and decried that the law has protected the tribal chiefs and feudal lords instead of citizens’ rights, which ultimately led to honor culture. Foremost, the Chief Minister of Balochistan, Mir Sarfraz Bugti, reproached the incident, stating that the victims were not married and had four or five children from their respective marriages. He further added that killing them is a murder and a crime, and nobody has the right to kill a person this ruthlessly and make videos.
The Chief Minister of Balochistan condemned the murder in the name of honor, but his words were laced with insinuations, defaming the victims’ character, stating, “There was no marital relationship between the two,” that lessened the gravity of a murder. A few days later, another incident took place: a couple married for seven years was gunned down in Quetta near the Lakpass area of the Mastung District. The couple invited on the pretext of reconciliation was reportedly killed by the woman’s brothers.
Laws exist, and awareness rises, but justice fails and culture resists.
Honor culture is not something new to Pakistani society; it is a pattern that has persisted for ages despite condemnation and legal abandonment. It is a pensive pause for a society to question ‘Why does this keep happening?’ instead of ‘Why did this happen?’ Ostensibly, the continuation of the honor killings is because of the disconnect between the oratory and the reforms. Similar sensational news garners widespread attention from high profiles to the public, but without institutional support, these demands for justice are in vain.
Honor culture gets strengthened in a society when it is institutionalized within the communities. People treat it as an ‘internal matter.’ In many rural and semi-rural areas, ancestral norms, ethnic traditions, male-dominated frameworks, and erroneous religious interpretations overshadow the state law. During colonialism, the colonizers gave tacit legitimacy to tribal customs by institutionalizing customary laws, which begat honor culture and its byproducts like honor killings, swara, vani, karokari, and others. Furthermore, the aloof justice system in Pakistan engenders recourse to tribal justice systems. People in rural and rurban areas draw toward jirgas, panchayats, and elders, who usually sanction partial justice under the guise of honor, reconciliation, and tradition.
Delayed justice is the fulcrum of people’s pivoting to the tribal justice system.
Institutional patriarchy and generational fidelity to the customs change people’s perceptions as they start to mimic it without considering it wrong. And this practice is manifested in a statement by Bano Bibi’s mother when she defended the killers of her daughter, saying, “They were killed according to Baloch traditions… we have not committed any sin.” This illustrates how the loyalty to the customs overrides empathy and morality.
The Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) reported 547 cases of honor killing across Pakistan in 2024. On average, 2 cases of honor killing are reported every single day, where the conviction rate is only 0.5%. The numbers speak volumes. As of today, the familiar chill of routine is felt as the cases are reported in the news. The statistics reflect moral collapse beyond just flawed justice. They expose the reality of a society where human rights and the justice system take a backseat and people relish the hollow honor.
How many more women have to be sacrificed in the name of so-called ‘honor’? To name each incident a mere ‘tragedy’ will not mark any change if the systematic pattern of killing prevails. The state should take incisive operations to strip down parallel justice systems and uphold uniform law across all provinces and communities; otherwise, honor will keep decimating women, and no one will be held accountable. When the legal system is required to eliminate the honor culture, it is on par with the change in people’s perception to fully eradicate it. Religious scholars and authorities are a major influence in Pakistani society. Therefore, it is high time for them to come in the first row to educate people according to the right Islamic teachings and give them courage to oppose rigid, fallacious honor culture and its practices.
Liberties, be gone; Renown, come hither.
