KARACHI, Pakistan, Jun 04 (IPS) – “It’s introduced me some closure,” mentioned Shafaq Zaidi, a faculty buddy of Noor Mukadam, reacting to the Supreme Court docket’s Could 20 verdict upholding each the life sentence and demise penalty for Noor’s killer, Zahir Jaffer.
“Nothing can deliver Noor again, however this choice presents a way of justice—not only for her, however for each lady in Pakistan who’s been informed her life doesn’t matter,” Zaidi informed IPS over the cellphone from Islamabad. “It’s been an extended and painful journey—4 years of combating by means of the periods courtroom, excessive courtroom, and eventually, the Supreme Court docket.”
Echoing an analogous sentiment, rights activist Zohra Yusuf mentioned, “It’s satisfying that the Supreme Court docket upheld the decision,” however added that the crime’s brutality left little room for aid. “It was so horrific that one can’t even have fun the judgment,” she mentioned, referring to the “excessive” sadism Noor endured—tortured with a knuckleduster, raped, and beheaded with a pointy weapon on July 20, 2021.
Yusuf additionally identified that the “background” of these concerned is what drew nationwide consideration.
Noor Mukadam, 27, was the daughter of a former ambassador, whereas Zahir Jaffer, 30, was a twin Pakistan-U.S. nationwide from a rich and influential household. Her father and buddies fought to maintain the case within the public eye, refusing to let it fade into one more forgotten statistic.
Nonetheless, the response has been muted—many, together with Yusuf, oppose the demise penalty.
The Human Rights Fee of Pakistan recorded at the least 174 demise sentences in 2024—a pointy rise from 102 in 2023—but not a single execution was reportedly carried out. The final recognized hanging was in 2019, when Imran Ali was executed for the rape and homicide of six-year-old Zainab Ansari.
Nevertheless, Noor’s father, Shaukat Ali Mukadam, has repeatedly acknowledged that the demise sentence for Zahir Jaffer was “very crucial,” emphasizing, “This isn’t nearly my daughter—it’s about all of Pakistan’s daughters,” referencing the numerous acts of violence in opposition to ladies that go unpunished day by day.
The HRCP’s 2024 annual report painted a grim image of gender-based violence in opposition to ladies in Pakistan.
In keeping with the Nationwide Police Bureau, at the least 405 ladies had been killed in so-called honor crimes. Home violence remained widespread, leading to 1,641 murders and over 3,385 studies of bodily assault inside households.
Sexual violence confirmed no signal of slowing. Police information documented 4,175 reported rapes, 733 gang rapes, 24 instances of custodial sexual assault, and 117 incidents of incest-related abuse—a chilling reminder of the risks ladies face in each private and non-private areas. HRCP’s media monitoring additionally revealed that at the least 13 transgender people skilled sexual violence—one was even killed by her household within the title of honor.
The digital house supplied no refuge both. The Digital Rights Basis recorded 3,121 instances of cyber-harassment, most reported by ladies in Punjab.
Justice Stays Elusive
However numbers alone can’t seize the brutality—or the deep-rooted disregard for ladies that drives it.
“We lately took a person to courtroom and secured upkeep for twin child women,” mentioned Haya Zahid, CEO of the Karachi-based Authorized Assist Society (LAS). “The daddy divorced their younger mom whereas she was nonetheless within the hospital—simply because she gave delivery to daughters.”
LAS presents free authorized help to those that can’t afford it, dealing with instances like rape, homicide, acid assaults, pressured and little one marriages, and home violence.
Bassam Dhari, additionally from LAS, recalled Daya Bheel’s grotesque homicide, which happened after Noor Mukadam’s however did not stir nationwide consideration as a result of it occurred in a distant village in Sindh’s Sanghar district.
“She was skinned, her eyeballs eliminated, her breasts chopped off, and her head severed from her physique,” mentioned Dhari.
He mentioned the postmortem report confirmed that she was neither raped nor sexually assaulted, and the assault didn’t look like pushed by rage or revenge.
Whereas Mukadam’s household might have discovered closure, justice stays elusive for hundreds of Pakistani ladies.
“Noor Mukadam’s case is certainly a uncommon occasion the place justice was served,” mentioned Syeda Bushra, one other lawyer on the LAS.
“It’s not that there aren’t sufficient legal guidelines to guard ladies and kids—removed from it,” mentioned Bushra. “There are many legal guidelines, however what good are they if investigations are weak?” In keeping with her, solely a small proportion of girls can search redress. “Justice is denied or delayed each single day,” she added.
“The issue is that these legal guidelines are crafted in a social vacuum,” noticed Fauzia Yazdani, a gender and governance professional with over 30 years of expertise working with nationwide governments, the UN, and bilateral growth companions in Pakistan.
She acknowledged that though many progressive, women-friendly legal guidelines have been handed through the years, they’ve did not resonate in a society resistant to alter. “Legal guidelines are important, however no quantity of laws can finish violence in opposition to ladies if the societal mindset stays misogynistic, patriarchal, and permissive of such crimes,” she mentioned.
Shopping for Justice By way of Blood Cash
On the identical time, Dahri highlighted crucial flaws within the justice system.
In Pakistan, the place the demise penalty stays authorized beneath its Islamic standing, such sentences might be overturned by means of the diyat (blood cash) regulation, which permits perpetrators to purchase forgiveness by compensating the sufferer’s household.
“In our nation, cash can purchase something,” mentioned Dahri. “This blood cash regulation is routinely abused by the wealthy and highly effective to actually get away with homicide.”
He confused the pressing have to reform these legal guidelines. “Many households initially refuse compensation, however intense stress and threats—particularly in opposition to the poor—usually power them to present in.”
In 2023, 10-year-old Fatima Furiro’s demise might need gone unnoticed if two graphic movies—exhibiting her writhing in ache, then collapsing—hadn’t gone viral. The ensuing public outcry led to her physique being exhumed. Her employer, a robust feudal lord in Sindh’s Khairpur district, who appeared within the footage, was swiftly arrested.
He spent a 12 months in jail earlier than the case was closed, after Fatima’s impoverished household accepted blood cash—regardless of forensic proof confirming she had been raped, overwhelmed, and tortured over time.
Regulation vs Prejudice
Alongside a flawed justice system, ladies should battle deep-rooted social taboos—amplified by relentless victim-blaming and shaming.
“In such an surroundings,” mentioned Bushra, “it’s no shock that many ladies, worn down by the lengthy and exhausting course of, ultimately withdraw their complaints.”
“A girl’s trial begins lengthy earlier than she ever enters a courtroom,” mentioned Dahri.
In Noor Mukadam’s case, the declare of a “live-in relationship”—actual or fabricated—was utilized by the convict’s lawyer to downgrade his demise sentence for rape to life imprisonment.
“A boy and lady residing collectively is a misfortune for our society,” remarked Justice Hashim Kakar, who led the three-member bench listening to Mukadam’s case.
“Her status was sullied—even in demise,” mentioned Yazdani, including that judges ought to chorus from moralizing and preaching.
“A choose’s verdict ought to relaxation solely on an neutral studying of the regulation,” mentioned Bushra.
However as Dahri identified, few attorneys in Pakistan dare to say this brazenly. “Judges can take it personally,” he mentioned, “and we threat dealing with repercussions in our very subsequent case.”
In keeping with Yazdani, even a couple of focused reforms—like quicker hearings, clearing case backlogs, organising GBV and little one safety courts, and coaching judges, attorneys, and police on the realities of misogyny and gender-based violence—might reduce victim-blaming in half.
However she additionally supplied a phrase of warning: reforms alone don’t assure empathy, which she known as the cornerstone of actual justice.
“Social change doesn’t occur in a single day,” Yazdani mentioned. “Anthropologically talking, it takes 5 years for change to take root—and one other ten for it to really take maintain.”
Gender stability issues in justice
Judicial gender inequality worsens the state of affairs. Some specialists argue that rising the variety of ladies judges and attorneys might result in a extra truthful, dynamic, and empathetic justice system.
A 2024 report by the Regulation and Justice Fee of Pakistan (LJCP) reveals that girls make up lower than 20 p.c of the nation’s judges, attorneys, and judicial officers—an alarming hole in a nation of over 117 million ladies. Of the 126 judges within the superior judiciary, solely seven are ladies—simply 5.5 p.c. Within the Supreme Court docket, that quantity drops to 2.
In the meantime, the 26 judges of the apex courtroom (together with the chief justice) are burdened with a backlog of greater than 56,000 instances—not all associated to violence in opposition to ladies.
Bushra believes extra ladies should be inspired to enter the justice sector—notably as prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and judges. “I’ve seen how distressed victims turn into when pressured to repeat their ordeal to male officers—usually a number of instances,” she mentioned.
However she emphasised that merely rising the variety of ladies gained’t finish victim-blaming or assure survivor-centric justice. “Everybody within the system—together with ladies—should be genuinely gender-sensitized to beat private biases and deep-rooted stereotypes,” mentioned Bushra.
Particular Courts
In 2021, the federal government handed the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act, resulting in the formation of an anti-rape committee by the Ministry of Regulation and Justice to help victims, together with organising particular courts nationwide. “Particular investigation models with educated prosecutors now deal with 77 p.c of complaints, and 91 p.c of instances go to particular courts,” mentioned Nida Aly of AGHS, a Lahore-based regulation agency providing free authorized help and a part of the committee.
By 2022, Sindh had arrange 382 such models. Aly famous {that a} survivor-centered, time-bound, and coordinated strategy raised conviction charges from 3.5 p.c to five p.c. A nationwide intercourse offenders registry, managed by police, was launched in 2024. In Punjab, all 36 districts now have disaster and safety facilities providing authorized and psychosocial help, although some face useful resource limitations.
Practically 5 years after gender-based violence courts had been established in Karachi, she sees a promising shift in how judges deal with such instances. “Prosecutors now take time to organize ladies complainants—one thing that by no means occurred earlier than,” she mentioned.
Nevertheless, she added, the variety of such courts and sensitized judges stays a drop within the ocean in comparison with the overwhelming variety of violence dedicated in opposition to ladies and such instances flooding the system throughout Sindh.
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