By : Majid Wali
Sindh is a region having customs and cultural background with gender based violence on its rise, one of which is “karo kari”,a deep routed norm.
“Karo Kari” is a Sindhi term used for honor killing, specific for Sindh province.Karo means black man and Kari means black women,the term means they have blackened themselves by committing this sin, dishonoring the family. Another term used in Southern Punjab is “Siyah Kari”,a different name but the norm is same.
Often women are murdered in the name of “Karo Kari” which is believed to restore reputation of a family.
A Karo Kari murder incident can occur independently but often it involves the judgment initially which is then followed by directives of “Jirga”, being the only judiciary and administrative forum available in rural areas.
Women in Sindh are considered as an inferior gender with no access to education and religious knowledge which educates them about their fundamental rights, consequently they have accepted this narrow mind set which put them into psychological imprisonment.
In this context, Nafisah Shah with a deep insight, delivered her Intellectuality in the form of “Honour Unmasked “that unveils social and cultural anthropology particularly to Sindh Province which inherent social injustice,”Karo Kari” is the same.
Dr.Nafisa Shah is an Intellect, writer sand politician. She has done PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oxford.
Nafisah Shah, daughter of former Chief Minister of Sindh Qaim Ali Shah, is currently continuing her 2nd tenure as member National Assembly of Pakistan from Khairpur Sindh and she has been nominated as Vice President of Pakistan People’s Party ( PPP ) Sindh by Chairmen Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari son of former President Asif Ali Zardari.
“Honour Unmasked” which is published in 2016 by Oxford University Press ,is a detailed insight about anthropology of Gender,Politics & Law.On her Intellect, Dr.Nafisah Shah went thoroughly about social injustice which is inherent in Sindh’s culture that leads to honor killings ( Karo Kari ). “ Honour Unmasked” is an effort which is based on her Field & Scholarly work as journalist and researcher about Gender Violence, relevant Laws and Power in Pakistan that unveils people’s modes of behavior about Honor Killings and gender violence, the lack of laws to protect the discriminative behavior related to women rights and weak implementation of existing laws.