ISLAMABAD • A grisly murder involving families from the elite of Pakistani society has dominated headlines for the past week, stirring national outrage over femicides in the South Asian nation.
Ms Noor Mukadam, 27, was found beheaded in a posh neighbourhood of the capital Islamabad on July 20. Police have charged Zahir Jaffer, a US national and scion of one of Pakistan's wealthiest families, with murder.
Investigators say the two were friends, and Jaffer lured Ms Mukadam - the daughter of Pakistan's former envoy to South Korea - to his home, held her there for two days, then murdered her.
Hundreds of women are killed in Pakistan annually, and thousands more are victims of violence, but few cases get sustained media attention, and only a small fraction of perpetrators are ever punished.
This killing though, which touched a segment of society that is often thought to be immune to that systemic injustice, has sparked a public outcry unlike any other recent case.
"The status of the families involved, especially the family of Zahir Jaffer, and of course Noor's father being a former ambassador, and this happening within the elite circles of Islamabad... all of that combined definitely has brought more attention to this case," said associate professor of sociology Nida Kirmani of the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Social media erupted with furious disgust, and there have been protests and vigils in major cities, as well as among the Pakistani diaspora as far away as Canada and the United States. Facing public anger, the Jaffer family took out full-page newspaper advertisements distancing themselves from the murder and calling for justice.
Life for women in Pakistan's rural areas is markedly different from that in urban centres, particularly Islamabad, where cafes and shopping areas cater to the city's mix of wealthy intelligentsia, government officials, diplomats, expatriates and foreign journalists.
For many women in Islamabad, even that semblance of freedom and safety has been shattered. "I have daughters, too, and I worry day and night if this happens to my own daughter, who will stand with me?" said Ms Amna Salman Butt at a vigil for Ms Mukadam this week that drew hundreds of people.
While the daily twists and turns of the trial unfold in the national media gaze, rights groups in Pakistan say the government should pass a landmark Bill meant to tackle domestic violence in order to assuage some anger.
The Bill streamlines the process for obtaining restraining orders, and defines violence broadly, to include "emotional, psychological and verbal abuse".
Lawmakers this month sought the opinion of a council of Islamic scholars on whether the legislation adhered to Islamic principles. Mr Qibla Ayaz, who heads the council, said they had only informally discussed the Bill, but felt its ambiguous language was unacceptable in Pakistan's conservative society.
"Does this mean that a daughter or wife can complain when a father or husband is stopping them from going outside the house? This may not be acceptable to all Pakistanis," he said.
REUTERS
