karo kari (Honour Unmasked)

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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.

Human Shield Controversy Honour or Shame ?

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News Kashmir Desk

In an controversial move Indian Army’s Major Nitin Leetul Gogi was recently awarded with the Chief of Army Staff’s commendation card for his efforts during law and order situation . Major Gogoi came under limelight for an incident in Budgam, Kashmir  where he is said  to have ordered to tie a Kashmiri man on the hood of a jeep as a shield against stone.

Rage and anger has been witnessed in many a voices against the awarding of the said Army official, especially in the turbulent valley of Kashmir. The election day had seen lot of violence with scores of killings, injuries and arrests with poor turnout.  It is this image of human shield which brought the real storm.

Although some right wing and ultra nationalists have praised the award to Major Gogoi many a sane voices have criticized the Army for awarding Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi with the Army Chief’s Commendation Card.

Kashmiri eminent voices are openly expressing their aghast .Mir Imran, Human Rights Defender stated – “Taking human shield is first of all brazen violations of all international treaties and conventions, now rubbing immense salt to wounds the award of such army official who resorted  to taking Human shield is slap on all democratic norms .This will further create alienation in Kashmir and make Kashmiris feel an enemy nation, this is just unpleasant move. Those Who violate rights of Kashmiris are awarded by Indian state is message going to common Kashmiri on ground. This is humiliation of entire masses at the cost of a very self negative action taken by the said army officer With this move the anger against Indian state will touch sky heights in Kashmir .”

As a matter of fact, the former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command, Lt Gen (Rtd) Harcharanjit Singh Panag expressed disappointment over Army’s decision to award Major Gogoi. “IA traditions, ethos, rules & regs swept away by the “mood of the nation”! I stand by my views even if I am the last man standing!,” the  retired army commander wrote on the micro-blogging site twitter soon after news about awarding Gogoi broke.

On the otherhand, diplomat and strategic affairs expert, Krishnan Chander Singh seconded Panag and assured him that he is not alone. “You ain’t alone. Good folks remain silent. Human shields can’t be used by army of a civilized nation,” Singh tweeted.

Eminent journalist and Associate Editor CatchNews, Adiyta Menon, termed the decision of awarding the Major as losing of moral rights.  “With Army honouring Major Gogoi who used Kashmiri voter as human shield, we’ve lost moral right to criticize boycotts or lament low turnout,” he tweeted.

Undoubtedly this human shield controversy will dominate the discourse on Kashmir for years to come.