Pakistani man 'slits second wife's throat in honour killing' 15 years after murdering first wife

'I am not ashamed what I have done,' says the husband 

Jess Staufenberg
Thursday 18 August 2016 10:30 BST
At least 1,100 women were killed in "honour killings" in Pakistan in 2015, according to the country's human rights commission
At least 1,100 women were killed in "honour killings" in Pakistan in 2015, according to the country's human rights commission (Reuters)

A man has confessed to murdering his wife in the name of "honour" fifteen years after allegedly killing his first wife for the same reason.

The man in his 50s has been charged with slitting his wife's throat in Pakistan during an argument and been arrested by police.

His 30-year-old wife is his second spouse to suffer death at his hands, according to local media reporting on the crime in Karachi.

"My wife had relations with another man. I am not ashamed what I have done,” he told the Express Tribune, while reportedly confessing to the murder. A mob who heard his wife's screams reportedly beat him when they discovered his actions.

“I warned her many times but she did not understand. I even tried to convince her the night before I killed her."

The murder comes after Amnesty International urged the Pakistani government to stop failing to hold perpetrators of horrific "honour" killings to account. A number of high-profile murders has shone a spotlight on the atrocities against women in the south Asian country.

The woman was killed in SITE Town in Karachi, which stands for the Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate that lies in western Karachi, according to local police.

Taj Muhammad Wasan, a police inspector in the area, said the accused had already murdered his first wife, and mother of his three children, 15 years earlier on the same "grounds".

"He had been imprisoned for killing his first wife who was his maternal uncle's daughter with whom he also had three children," said Mr Wasan.

"This time around, he is also giving the same reason."

Pakistani authorities must end impunity for so called "honour" killings and other violence against women, Amnesty International warned in July this year.

The human rights organisation called on the government to change a law which allows the family of a murderer to grant them a "pardon", thereby meaning no charges are brought against them.

The recent murder of social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch by her own brother prompted Pakistani authorities to label it a "crime against the state" and refuse to allow the family to pardon their son in the first move of its kind.

When asked why he drugged and strangled his sister, who often spoke out against the country's conservative traditions on social media, Waseem Baloch exhibited no remorse.

“I am proud of what I did. I drugged her first, then I killed her,” he told reporters.

"Girls are born to stay at home and follow traditions. My sister never did that.”

Last month, a 28-year-old beautician from Bradford called Samia Shahid was killed by her ex-husband when she visited relatives in her ancestral village in the northern Punjab region of Pakistan.

Her former partner confessed he drugged and strangled his young ex-wife after his family told him the marriage had been dishonourable.

Nearly 1,100 women were murdered by relatives who believed they had dishonoured their family in Pakistan last year, according to a report by the country's own human rights commission.

"By failing to hold perpetrators of so-called 'honour' killings accountable for their crimes, the Pakistani state has been forfeiting its duty to the victims and letting a climate of impunity take reign," a spokesperson for Amnesty International has said.

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