That a minimum of twenty percent of homicides in Pakistan is are honor killings is horrendous. It's good to see PBS taking up this huge problem in the Islamic world to main stream America.
FROM PBS.ORG:
Study Finds Honor Killings a Major Portion of Pakistan's Homicides
One in every five homicides in Pakistan is a so-called "honor killing," according to a new epidemiological study published in the European Journal of Public Health.
Considered a form of domestic and gender-based violence, honor killings often involve women murdered by family members to avenge shame brought by infidelity or other culturally unacceptable behaviors.
"It's a very unique kind of violence, because usually domestic violence is caused by husbands or partners, but this is often conducted by brothers or fathers," said Dr. Muazzam Nasrullah, who ran the study while at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan.
Now working as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nasrullah said the report is the first statistical study that attempts to quantify the problem since data about the practice are so difficult to collect. Nasrullah used local and national newspaper reports systematically compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan as the basis for his study.
Other sources of data, such as death certificates, often do not include specific enough information on the circumstances of the death, Nasrullah said.
A total of 1,957 incidents of honor killings were recorded over four years, the study reported. The majority occurred in response to alleged extramarital relations.
But Nasrullah said he is confident the results were lower than the actual number because not every event makes it into the media.
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