What a truly dishonourable family is really like

An honor killing is the murder of a family member (mostly female) or clan member by one or more (mostly male) family members, where the murderers (and potentially the wider community) believe the victim to have brought dishonour upon the family, clan, or community. This perceived dishonor is normally the result of (a) utilizing dress codes unacceptable to the family (b) wanting out of an arranged marriage or choosing to marry by own choice, (c) engaging in certain sexual acts or (d) engaging in relations with the same sex, (e) and even as innocent as refusing to wear a covering over their heads. These killings result from the perception that defense of honor justifies killing a person whose behavior dishonors their clan or family.

It goes without saying that such killings are against all religious beliefs, be they Christian, Islamic, or any other. It is also against humanity. It is no different than murdering someone for profit. The crime is an evil crime and there is no justification for it at all. It is unfortunate however that there are creepy families around the world who believe that murdering members of their families is the honourable thing to do if the victims have offended them.

These horrendous crimes are generally committed in Mid Eastern countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Lebanon, Afghanistan and others where the people are of the Islamic faith. These so-called honour murders occur in India also.

In April 2008 it came to light that some months prior, a Saudi woman was killed by her father for chatting on Facebook to a man. There are no exact official numbers about honour killings in Lebanon as many honour killings there are arranged to look like accidents. It is believed that 40-50 women are killed each year in Lebanon in honour related killings. In the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, it is believed that 3-4 women per month are killed in honour killings. In Jordan there is minimal gender discrimination and women are permitted to vote, but men receive reduced sentences for killing their wives or female family members if they have brought dishonor to their family. Families often have sons who are considered minors, under the age of 18, to commit the honor killings. An unfortunate loophole in the juvenile law allows minors to serve time in a juvenile detention center and they are released with a clean criminal record at the age of 18 notwithstanding that they committed an honour killing of a relative. There have been a series of murders of Sikh women in British Columbia, Canada by their husbands and other relatives. In October 2006, the charred remains of schoolteacher Manjit Panghali were found in Surrey. Her husband and brother-in-law were charged in her murder. Around the same time, Gurjeet Kaur Ghuman, a nurse, was shot in the face, blinded by her husband before he killed himself. Yet another woman, Navreet Kaur Waraich, was stabbed to death—her husband is charged with her murder.

The subjugation of women in underdeveloped countries like Pakistan, India and others as well as in immigrant communities within Canada, is not rooted in some uniquely reactionary quality of Islam or Sikhism, as some right-wing ideologues claim. The institution of the family—the main vehicle for the transfer of private property and the regimentation of society—is the main source for the oppression of women. Men in those societies treat their women as if they are mere chattels.

The concept of ‘family honour’ i.e., control of the sexuality of women by the father or husband, far from being exclusively Islamic or Sikh, is actually connected to a form of belief where a clan—a series of related extended families—holds and works the land in common. As Engels noted: “In order to guarantee the fidelity of the wife, (that is the paternity of the children) the woman is placed in the man’s absolute power; if he kills her, he is but exercising his right to do so.”

It doesn’t surprise me one bit that these disgusting and dishonourable people who approve of honour killings have slithered (by air) into Canada and other westernized nations and then have done exactly what their fellow citizens in their own countries have done; murder members of their own families because they felt that they were offended and dishonoured.

This article is about one of those families that moved to Canada in 1999 and 2001 respectively from Pakistan and settled into the city of Mississauga, just west of Toronto, Ontario. I am speaking of Muhammad Parvez who slithered into Canada in 1999 and his wife Anwar Parvez and one of their sons, Waqas Parvez who both slithered into Canada in 2001 after him. When you realize what these three scumbags did to a member of their family, you will agree with me that the words, ‘slithered’ and ‘scumbags’ are not so insulting at all, at least not when describing that trio. Muhammad worked as a taxi driver and Wagas worked as a tow truck driver and Anwar remained at home as a housewife.

Muhammad and Anwar Parvez were the parents of 16-year-old Agsa Parvez who lived with her parents and six of her siblings. Two other siblings lived elsewhere. I used the past tense of ‘was’ because Agsa was murdered by her father and that other scumbag, her brother Waqas on December 10, 2007.

Women in the Parvez family were expected to dress traditionally, to rely on men for financial stability, and to spend most of their free time confined to the household. Arranged to be married to a Pakistani man, Aqsa longed for the freedom to dress as she wished and spend evenings with her friends; she craved privacy, as her bedroom had no door.

What was their motive? Well, it seems that Agsa wanted to be like other girls in her school. She wanted to be able to show her beautiful hair, visit her friends in their homes, go to movies, have privacy in her own bedroom (in which there was no door) and most of all, not have to marry a cousin who lived in Pakistan as per the order of her father as an arranged marriage. She had fought her parents for the right to wear Western clothing, and to jettison the hijab they wanted her to wear. She was going to apply for a part-time job, something her father refused to allow. Then she ran away from home for the second time in three months. The first time, her father had sworn on the Koran he would kill her if she ever ran away again. But she ran away again. She had been living with a friend but was lured to the family's Mississauga home that day by her brother, who told her she could pick up her clothes.
While she was in her bedroom gathering up her clothes, her father and her brother, Waqas entered her room and together, they strangled her to death. They later admitted to the murder and were convicted of second degree murder.

Thirty-six minutes later, her father called 911 saying he had killed her. When police arrived, they found his wife crying hysterically and the father with blood on his hands. In a Brampton courtroom in June 2010, the victim’s father, Muhammad Parvez, 60, and her brother, Waqas Parvez, 29, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. The penalty for second degree murder is 10 years minimum to 25 years imprisonment before they can apply for parole. At the time of this writing, they haven't been sentenced yet.

When asked by his wife why he had killed their daughter, her husband told her: “My community will say you have not been able to control your daughter. This is my insult. She is making me naked.” Such a statement must surely appear in the annals of history as utter stupidity and as a very weak form of justification for killing one’s own daughter.

Observers say the case, among the first so-called honour killings to gain widespread attention in Canada, will cast a spotlight on generational strains that can tear at families adapting to a new culture. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said it’s a particularly pernicious form of murder to kill a member of one’s own family for cultural reasons. He further said, “That’s one of the reasons we have been explicit in condemning what we call barbaric cultural practices such as honour killings.”

Multiculturalism is a widely accepted phenomenon in Canada but it is not an excuse, or a moral or legal justification, for such barbaric practices. Multiculturalism does not equal cultural relativism.

Muslim Canadian Congress founder Tarek Fatah said the guilty plea is a wake-up call for parents to understand that young women are not the possessions of men. Muslim leaders who do not call Ms. Parvez’s murder an honour killing are avoiding the real issue.” He added, “If someone cannot see through the notion of the hijab being used as a basis of killing someone, (then) they’re blind. How many more Muslim women have to die before ... Islamist groups open their eyes?”

After 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez was murdered by her brother and father in a so-called honour killing, her mother blamed the slain girl for not obeying her family's strict rules.

Alone in a police interview room after her son choked Aqsa to death in December 2007 and her husband took the fall for it, Anwar Jan was caught on a recording suggesting Aqsa's murder was the headstrong teenager's own fault. Aqsa, “Aqsa, my daughter is dead. Everyone tried to explain to you. This would not have happened if you would have listened." I am forced to ask this question. Where was she when her evil husband and evil son were murdering her daughter? I don’t think I can ever be truly convinced that she didn’t know what was going in her daughter’s bedroom when she was being strangled to death.

Waqas Parvez choked his younger sister to death in her bedroom less than 20 minutes after they arrived home and after he left her for dead, then fled, according to an agreed statement of facts read in court. It's apparent from his DNA found under her fingernails that she tried to fight back while he had his hands gripped around his sister’s neck. Waqas Parvez told a colleague two or three days before the murder that he was going to kill his sister because she was causing the family embarrassment. He later admitted to the colleague that he killed her.

In the agreed statements of facts submitted to the court, Waqas said only he and his father were involved, but that the family knew what was going on. Some claimed they were asleep. I doubt that. The fact that their younger sister had suddenly returned home would have been enough to keep them well aware as to what was going on. Even though the other siblings denied that they heard anything, I strongly believe they were well aware as to the fact that their sister was being murdered. The police asked the mother of the victim if she thought killing her daughter was wrong. All she said was, "I don't know." Her brothers and sisters didn't condemn the killing either. The entire family is rotten.

According to the United Nations, as many as 5,000 girls and women are murdered every year around the world as part of so-called honour killings, a crime generally defined as the premeditated murder of a female relative believed to have brought dishonour upon her family.

A second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence. Both the Crown and defence are calling for them to be able to apply for parole only after 18 years. I disagree with that kind of sentence. They should get the maximum of twenty-five years in prison. Such a sentence will serve as punishment and a deterrent to others of their ilk who think that honour killing is an honourable thing to do when women disobey men. I think however that they will probably have to serve 18 years before applying for parole simple because it was part of a deal between their lawyers and the crown.

If these two murderers and the victim’s mother are not Canadian citizens, they should be shipped back to Pakistan----her immediately and the other two when they have served their sentences. Canada doesn’t need these kinds of people in our country. We are not the world’s garbage dump.