There is No honour in honour killing: the Prime Minister of Pakistan

Author: Faria Salman

Islamabad, Pakistan – Prime Minster of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif has re-affirmed the Government of Pakistan’s commitment to end discrimination and violence against women and girls, and more so end the menace of honour killings prevalent in Pakistan.

His Excellency, the Prime Minister of Pakistan along with Ms. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy during the screening of her documentary. Photo: Press Information Department, Government of Pakistan

Addressing Pakistan’s first screening of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s second Oscar nomination,“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness”, the Prime Minister of Pakistan in a personal and bold initiative to further strengthen and enhance legislation to work for women said: “There is no honour in honour killing - in fact there can be nothing more brutal than engaging in killing and calling it honour.”

His Excellency, the Prime Minister of Pakistan addresses the screening of Ms. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s documentary “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness”. Photo: Press Information Department, Government of Pakistan

In tackling difficult and challenging themes, Sharmeen’s second Oscar nomination has captured the personal attention of the Prime Minister of Pakistan with a pledge to build on the momentum from her documentary to take all appropriate steps to end all forms of discrimination and violence against women, and bring perpetrators to justice.

Speaking at the screening, Sharmeen said: “The message of this film is strong and democratically elected representatives are listening to the message of this film and acting on it - This is the biggest win for me.”

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka praised the film and the swift political response. “I couldn’t agree more with the Prime Minister that there is no honour in honour killings,” she said. “UN Women welcomes the Prime Minister’s leadership and stands ready to support him and the government to end the practice of killing women in the name of honour.”

Country Representative of UN Women in Pakistan Jamshed Kazi lauded the social themes of Sharmeen’s inspirational documentaries, saying: “In using film-making as a tool to tackle the long struggle for the rights of women in Pakistan, Sharmeen has contributed to rapidly accelerating the pace of change in society – commitment by the Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan over the last few days, and today, to end ‘honour’ killings is a testament to the Government’s resolve to strengthen gender justice.”

The screening, held on Monday 22 February 2016 at the Prime Ministers House in Islamabad, was attended by government officials, development partners including the UN and civil society representatives. The Prime Minster of Pakistan’s commitment today to end gender-based discrimination and violence follows adoption along with other world leaders, in September 2015 of a new development framework including a stand-alone sustainable development goal on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, as well as gender sensitive targets within the other goals.