Honour-Based Crimes in Pakistan: Narratives of Victims, Aggressors and Bystanders

Abstract

The study explores the causes of honour-based crimes through the narratives of victims, aggressors and bystanders, which were unfolded in documentary films: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015) and Saving Face (2012). Selected narratives are interpreted by taking the sociocultural perspectives that draw on the cultural manifestation of honour crimes. The study shows that the ‘ideology of honour’ is one of the major causes of honour- crimes in Pakistan. Unlike Western discourses, which empower a woman institutionally to resist honour crimes, Pakistani women are either hushed or forced to compromise despite the presence of law to punish the aggressors. The study recommends that state and nonstate institutions play an effective role through the local councils of Pakistan in dealing with honour crimes and rehabilitation of victims through the provision of remunerative work.