Man allegedly kills wife over ‘honour’ near Superhighway in Karachi: police

A man allegedly murdered his wife over so-called honour near the Superhighway in Karachi on Thursday, police said.

According to a statement issued by the Site Superhighway Industrial Area police, Pari, 40, was strangulated to death allegedly by her husband Ghulam Ali Bugti in their home in Shahbaz Goth, Northern Bypass.

The police said the incident appeared to be an outcome of “honour-killing”, adding that the suspect had managed to escape from the scene.

The body was moved to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities.

Incidents of violence against women are common across the country. In December 2023, the Asian Development Bank reported in a study that domestic violence was emerging as a silent pandemic in Pakistan, posing a serious challenge to society and the state.

Earlier this week, a young teacher was allegedly murdered by her fiancé, a serving police officer, in Qambar-Shahdadkot after she declined to marry him, a senior official said.

A pregnant woman was killed by her husband last week over a domestic dispute, police said on Sunday.

In March, a woman seeking khula was allegedly killed by her husband outside the Malir court premises. In a separate incident, a woman was stabbed and killed, allegedly by her former husband, inside a local hotel in the Nursery area.

According to a ‘Mapping Gender-Based Violence (GBV) 2024’ report released by the Sustainable Social Development Organisation, conviction rates for gender-based violence in Pakistan were extremely low.

In Punjab, domestic violence cases stood at 1,167, with just three convictions, whereas Khyber Pakthunkhwa totalled 446 cases of domestic violence, but no convictions were recorded.

Sindh registered 375 cases for domestic violence, but no justice was served in terms of convictions.

Balochistan had the highest conviction count among all provinces for the category, with 25 convictions out of 160 cases.