Hafizabad man murders daughter, son-in-law and grandsons over 'honour': police

A man from a village in Punjab's Hafizabad district turned himself in on Saturday after he allegedly killed his daughter, her husband and their two children in what police suspect is a case of 'honour killing'.

According to police, the suspect was angry at his daughter Sana for marrying a man named Firdous of her free will four years ago. However, after some time he claimed to have reconciled with his daughter.

Police said the man invited his daughter, son-in-law and grandsons — aged two and three — to his house and once they arrived, he allegedly attacked them with a sharp-edged weapon.

The bodies of the victims have been shifted to the tehsil headquarters hospital for post-mortem examination and a case is being registered against the suspected killer in the Jalalpur Bhattian police station. The anti-terrorism section will also be added in the first information report, a police official told DawnNewsTV.

Honour killings continue despite new law

Scores of people in Pakistan, an overwhelming majority of whom are women, are still being murdered by relatives for bringing 'shame' on their family, more than a year since new laws came into force aimed at stemming the menace of 'honour killings'.

In October 2016, a joint sitting of both houses of parliament passed two key pro-women bills that had been pending assent for a long time.

The move at that time was cautiously hailed by women's rights activists. More than a year on, however, lawyers and activists say honour killings are still occurring at an alarming pace.

At least 280 such murders were recorded by the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan from October 2016 to June 2017 ─ a figure believed to be understated and incomplete.

The legislation mandates life imprisonment for honour killings, but whether a murder can be defined as a crime of honour is left to the judge's discretion.

That means the culprits can simply claim another motive and still be pardoned, according to Dr Farzana Bari, a widely respected activist and head of the Gender Studies Department at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University.