405 honour killings in Pakistan in 2024, triggers national outrage

At least 405 honour killings occurred across Pakistan in 2024, most involving women, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan confirmed. Victims were often murdered by relatives in the name of family honour. A recent case in Balochistan saw a couple killed on tribal council orders. The video of a woman and man accused of adultery being taken to the desert by a group of men to be killed has struck a nerve.The video shows the woman, Bano Bibi, being handed a Koran by a man police identified as her brother.
Earlier, outrage erupted after social media influencer Sana Yousuf was shot dead by a relative in Islamabad. According to media reports, civil society protests have erupted, demanding justice and an end to parallel justice systems. Despite a 2016 law against honour killings, weak enforcement, especially in rural areas, continues to hinder progress.
Rights groups say enforcement remains weak, especially in rural areas where tribal councils still hold sway. "In a country where conviction rates often fall to single digits, visibility — and the uproar it brings — has its advantages," constitutional lawyer Asad Rahim Khan said. Khan said rather than enforcing the law, the government had spent the past year weakening the judiciary and even considering reviving jirgas in former tribal areas. "It's executive inaction, most shamefully toward women in Balochistan," he said.
While hundreds of so-called honour killings are reported in Pakistan each year, often with little public or legal response. Once the video of the killings in Pakistan's Balochistan province went viral, it brought swift government action and condemnation from politicians, rights groups and clerics. Civil rights lawyer Jibran Nasir said, though, the government's response was more about performance than justice.