ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s ruling party plans to pass long-delayed legislation against “honour killings” within weeks in the wake of the high-profile murder of an outspoken social media star, the daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday.

The bill will go before a parliamentary committee as early as Thursday, said Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who is an increasingly influential member of her father’s ruling party.

The government has faced mounting pressure to pass the law against murders carried out by people professing to be acting in defence of the honour of their family.

The law would remove a loophole that allows other family members to pardon a killer.

The brother of social media star Qandeel Baloch, often described as Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian, has been arrested in connection with her strangling death and told a news conference he was incensed by her often risqué posts on social media.

Some 500 women are killed each year in Pakistan at the hands of family members over perceived damage to “honour” that can involve eloping, fraternising with men or any other infraction against conservative values that govern women’s modesty.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif said the government wanted to pass the law unanimously and had been negotiating with religious parties in parliament.

“We have finalised the draft law in the light of negotiations,” she told Reuters in an interview.

Pakistani social media star killed for ‘violating family’s honour’

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AFP, Reuters

“The final draft will be presented to a committee of joint session of parliament on July 21 for consideration and approval.” Maryam said once the parliamentary committee approved the bill, it would be presented for a vote in a “couple of weeks”before a joint session of parliament.

A spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the two major religious parties in parliament, said his party would not oppose the bill.

Pakistan’s other main religious political party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, could not be reached for comment but it has only a small number of seats in parliament.

Both religious parties have traditionally opposed legislation empowering women.

The upper house of parliament passed the bill in 2014 but it lapsed after the government failed to put it up for a vote in the lower house because it was preoccupied with legislation aimed at tackling security problems and economic reforms.

A senior government official told Reuters all major parties were now backing the bill and it was likely to be passed in a few weeks by a joint session of parliament.

“The prime minister is taking personal interest,” added a second official and close aide to Sharif.

“You will see in coming days more will be done, big changes will be announced.”

In a rare move, this week the government became a complainant in the police case against Baloch’s brother accused of her murder, designating it a crime against the state and thereby blocking her family from forgiving their son.

‘RIGHT TO FORGIVE’

Baloch had long divided opinion in the deeply conservative Muslim society with her social media photos and posts.

She was unapologetic about pushing the boundaries of acceptability for women and changing “the typical orthodox mindset” of Pakistanis.

Many viewed her as a disgrace to the cultural values of Islam and Pakistan. Others hailed her as a “feminist icon”.

She ran into political controversy last month after her”selfie” photographs with a prominent Muslim cleric, went viral, leading to him being fired from a prominent Muslim council.

After her death, the cleric, Abdul Qavi, told media that her murder should serve as an example for others who tried to malign the clergy.

He is being investigated for her murder along with Baloch’s two brothers.

Although government officials appeared confident of backing for the bill in parliament, it could still face resistance.

The influential Council of Islamic Ideology, which advises the government on the compatibility of laws with Islam, warned that it would not support any law that removed the forgiveness loophole, even though the council considers honour killings a crime.

“Islamic law and the Koran say that the right to forgive or punish lies first and foremost with the victim’s family,” said council spokesman Inam Ullah.

“So if this bill is trying to completely take away that right from the family, then of course that is against Islamic teachings. The state cannot completely take away that right from the family.”

The religious parties and the council hold significant influence over public opinion and the government fears a backlash if any law passes without their approval.

“This mentality – that you can get away with murder in the name of honour – it has to be done away with,” said Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, whose documentary on honour killings “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” won an Oscar this year.

“I am hopeful that this law will pass but the change in mindset will talk so much longer … I think Qandeel Baloch’s murder is the tipping point.”

New Delhi – Indian police have arrested three suspects over the alleged gang-rape of a student by a group of men, some of whom had been charged with a previous attack on her, an officer said Wednesday.

The 21-year-old, who belongs to the lowest Dalit caste, has told police she was abducted near her college in the north Indian state of Haryana last week by the five men, who then drugged and raped her.

According to relatives quoted in Indian media, she identified all five as the men who had raped her before, in 2013. Two men were charged over that attack, but were released on bail while awaiting trial.

“We arrested three of them yesterday,” Pushpa Khatri, a police officer involved in the investigation, told AFP without giving further details.

A local court sent the three accused to police custody until Sunday, after a prosecutor asked for them to be remanded for further questioning, an officer present at the hearing said.

It was unclear whether the two men already facing charges were among those arrested. Police said they were still looking for two other suspects in the latest case.

The woman was found unconscious in bushes on the side of a highway last Wednesday night.

Rape of Delhi girl, 4, reignites safety fears

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AFP

Her family has said the five men had issued threats before the latest attack, demanding that they withdraw the case lodged after the 2013 assault.

The family also told Indian media they had been forced to move away from their home district after the 2013 attack because of harassment.

However, some of those accused in the latest case have denied involvement, saying they were not in the area on the day of the alleged assault.

The fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012 shone a global spotlight on frightening levels of violence against women in India and led to major reform of India’s rape laws.

Authorities promised speedier trials and increased punishments for offenders, but attacks still occur frequently and cases are often slow to come to court.

The most recent official figures show that 36,735 rapes were reported across the country in 2014, although activists say the true number is likely much higher because of the social stigma attached to sexual crimes.

Backlash in India over gang-rape of girls found hanging from tree

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Reuters