Summary The man, son and nephew killed Kiran and Ghulam Abbas in 2014.
LAHORE (Dunya News / AFP) – A man in Lahore pardoned himself and two others who were involved in the killing of his daughter for honour, reported Roznama Dunya.
The accused Faqeer Muhammad, his son, Muhammad Illyas, and nephew, Muhammad Tahir killed Kiran and a young man Ghulam Abbas in 2014 in so-called honour killing.
The father confessed to his crime in the court and said that as he is the legal heir of her daughter, he pardons himself, his son and nephew for murdering Kiran.
The court was told: ‘The deceased, Kiran Bibi, was my real daughter. She was unmarried at the time of her murder. There are no other legal heirs of the deceased except her mother, Bushra Bibi, and me.
‘I have forgiven the accused persons in the name of Almighty Allah, and have no objection to their acquittal. I also waive my right of Qisas (retribution) and Diyat (blood money).’
Moreover, relatives of Ghulam Abbas also pardoned the three accused.
Law expert Advocate Shah Khawar said that according to the laws of Qisas and Diyat, the relatives of the deceased can forgive the murderer for and without Diyat.
Faqeer Muhammad’s case is astonishing because an accused is forgiving himself for murder charges.
It is nothing but a joke with law, he added.
He revealed that despite of prosecutor’s saying that they possess evidence against the three murder accused, the case was dropped by the court.
He told that the state can appeal against the court’s decision.
More than 500 people -- almost all women -- die in Pakistan each year in such killings, usually carried out by members of the victim’s family meting out punishment for bringing "shame" on the community and violating traditional values.
In September, two people including a woman was killed for honour and later hanged from tree in Mian Channu.
On July 16, Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch was murdered by her younger brother in what police suspect was a so-called "honour killing".
In June, a 16-year-old girl Zeenat Bibi was murdered by her mother for marrying the man of her choice whereas in the same month 19-year-old Maria Sadaqat was tortured then burned alive for refusing a marriage proposal from a school principal’s son in Murree.
In April, a young woman was strangled and then her body set ablaze because she helped a friend elope in Abbottabad, another case that sparked revulsion.
Pakistan amended its criminal code in 2005 to prevent men who kill female relatives escaping punishment by pardoning themselves as an "heir" of the victim.
But it is left to a judge’s discretion to decide whether to impose a prison sentence when other relatives of the victim forgive the killer -- a loophole which critics say remains exploited.
"A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" -- a film telling the story of a rare survivor of an attempted honour killing -- won the Academy Award for best documentary short in February.
Amid publicity for the film, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to eradicate the "evil" of honour killings but no fresh legislation has been tabled since then.
