LAHORE, Pakistan: A group of Pakistani clerics has issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, declaring “honor killing” over perceived damage to a family’s reputation against the teaching of Islam, and anyone who carries out such an attack a heretic.
Hundreds of Pakistanis, the vast majority women and girls, are murdered every year by relatives after being accused of damaging a family’s honor. Most cases involve young women trying to chose partners against a family’s wishes.
The ruling by the Sunni Ittehad Council, which includes more than 100 prominent clerics, comes after a string of particularly shocking killings including the burning to death by a mother of a 16 year-old girl who eloped with a young man.
“It seems were are moving toward an age of barbarism,” the council said in its fatwa issued on Sunday, a rare edict on the problem in the Muslim majority country of 190 million people.
“Burning women alive for marrying by their choice is against the teachings of Islam.”
The council is affiliated with the Barelvi group of Sunni Islam, the largest in Pakistan, and it holds significant influence in Punjab province, where half of Pakistanis live.
“Considering any killing in the name of honor to be justified is heresy,” the council said in a press release.
Last Friday, a father in the eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab, killed his daughter and her husband because he disapproved of their marriage.
Last month, a 16-year-old girl accused of helping a young couple elope was killed and her body set on fire, in a case that again brought the into the national spotlight.
Last year, more than 500 men and women were murdered in such, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
The toll this year, as of Monday, was 233, the group said.
Most suspects in honor killings are never prosecuted.
The religious council called on the government to amend laws that allow family members to “forgive” perpetrators in killings over honor, which means charges are often dropped.
In February, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif praised an Oscar-winning Pakistani film on honor killings, raising hope among activists that long-pending legislation on the issue would be passed. However, no progress has been made.
(Writing and Additional Reporting by Asad Hashim in Islamabad)
Pakistani clerics declare ‘honor killing’ as contrary to Islam
Pakistani clerics declare ‘honor killing’ as contrary to Islam
France to open consulate in Greenland in February
- The comments came on the day that Denmark’s top diplomat is to meet senior US officials at the White House for talks over Greenland
PARIS: France will open a consulate in Greenland on February 6, the foreign minister said Wednesday, calling the move a “political signal” over the strategic Danish territory, which US President Donald Trump has vowed to seize.
The comments came on the day that Denmark’s top diplomat is to meet senior US officials at the White House for talks over the future of vast, mineral-rich Arctic island.
Since returning to office nearly a year ago, Trump has repeatedly mused about taking over Greenland from longtime ally and European Union member Denmark.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told French RTL broadcaster that the decision to open the consulate was taken last summer, when President Emmanuel Macron visited Greenland in a show of support.
“For my part, I went there at the end of August to plan the consulate, which will open on February 6,” he said.
“It’s a political signal that’s associated with a desire to be more present in Greenland, including in the scientific field.”
“Greenland does not want to be owned, governed... or integrated into the United States. Greenland has made the choice of Denmark, NATO, (European) Union,” he said.
Greenland’s leader has said that the island would choose to remain an autonomous territory of Denmark over the United States.
Trump has said the United States needs Greenland due to the threat of a takeover by Russia or China.
The two rival powers have both stepped up activity in the Arctic, where ice is melting due to climate change, but neither claims Greenland, where the United States has long had a military base.
