Women’s rights activists voice outrage over shooting of ‘honour-killing’ whistleblower

ISLAMABAD: Women’s rights activists yesterday condemned the murder of a whistleblower in a notorious ‘ honour killing’ case that has shone a years-long spotlight on female victims – and the men who defend them – in deeply patriarchal Pakistan.

Afzal Kohistani, the man who first drew attention to the infamous incident in 2012, was gunned down in Abbottabad on Wednesday, police have said.

He had pursued a case in which a local cleric order the deaths of male and female wedding guests shown enjoying themselves in a video.

Precise details remain shrouded in mystery but Kohistani had long been adamant that women shown in the video had been murdered.

He was shot five times on a busy road and died on the spot, Abdul Aziz Afridi, a senior police official, told AFP.

Officials said that at least two arrests had been made.

“The perpetrators of this heinous crime will be brought to justice,” Shaukat Yousafzai, provincial information minister, told AFP.

Kohistani’s murder has ignited anger in Pakistan, where rights activists have long fought against the patriarchal notion of ‘honour’, which remains prevalent across South Asia.

Women have been shot, stabbed, stoned, set alight and strangled for bringing ‘ shame’ on their families for everything from refusing marriage proposals to wedding the ‘wrong’ man and helping friends elope.

Men can be victims too, though it is rarer.

“Will be raising this shocking murder of Afzal Kohistani in parliament,” opposition leader Sherry Rehman tweeted.

Rights activists participating in a march to mark International Women’s Day yesterday condemned Kohistani’s shooting.

“This incident has brought to the focus, once again, how vulnerable those that raise their voice still are,” said Benazir Jatoi, a human rights lawyer and march organiser.

Witness protection was “almost non- existent”, she added.

“Today’s march in Islamabad will remember Afzal and other brave Pakistanis like him and we will that perpetrators be held accountable,” said Jatoi.

Nighat Dad, a prominent activist, tweeted: “I march because the only pursuer of 7 years old Kohistani video case Afzal Kohistani was killed hours ago.”

The wedding video emerged in 2012, showing women clapping as two men danced in the deeply conservative mountainous area of Kohistan, 175 kilometres north of the capital Islamabad.

The men and women had allegedly been in the room together, in defiance of strict tribal customs that separate men and women at weddings – though the video does not show them together.

A local cleric sentenced several women and men to death over the video.

Kohistani is believed to have been related to some of the men in the video.

His entire family were banished from Kohistan as a result.

He took the rare step of pushing the case before the media and the justice system.