Grisly murder of diplomat's daughter sparks outrage over femicides in Pakistan | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Food
    • Habitat
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Multimedia
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
December 12, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Food
    • Habitat
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Multimedia
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2023
Grisly murder of diplomat's daughter sparks outrage over femicides in Pakistan

South Asia

Reuters
30 July, 2021, 06:10 pm
Last modified: 30 July, 2021, 06:13 pm

Related News

  • India top court upholds Modi’s move to scrap Kashmir’s autonomy
  • Soaring pollution in Pakistan's Lahore fills wards with sick children
  • Eight bus passengers killed by unknown gunmen in northern Pakistan
  • Pakistan acquits ex-Premier Nawaz Sharif in a graft case. He's now closer to running in elections
  • Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan replaced as party head

Grisly murder of diplomat's daughter sparks outrage over femicides in Pakistan

Noor Mukadam, 27, the daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, was found beheaded in a posh neighborhood of the capital on 20 July

Reuters
30 July, 2021, 06:10 pm
Last modified: 30 July, 2021, 06:13 pm
People carry signs against the killing of Noor Mukadam, 27, daughter of former Pakistani diplomat, and to condemn the violence against women and girls during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan July 25, 2021. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
People carry signs against the killing of Noor Mukadam, 27, daughter of former Pakistani diplomat, and to condemn the violence against women and girls during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan July 25, 2021. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

A grisly murder in the heart of Islamabad involving families from the privileged elite of Pakistani society has dominated headlines for the past week, stirring national outrage over femicides in the South Asian nation.

Noor Mukadam, 27, the daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, was found beheaded in a posh neighborhood of the capital on 20 July. 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 Mukadam, the daughter of Pakistan's former envoy to South Korea, to his home, held her there for two days, and then brutally murdered her.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Hundreds of women are killed in Pakistan annually, and thousands more are victims of brutal 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," commented Nida Kirmani, Associate Professor of Sociology at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Mukadam's murder has become the most keenly reported femicide in recent history. 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 advertisements in newspapers 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 chic cafes and shopping areas cater to the city's mix of wealthy intelligentsia, government officials, diplomats, expatriates, and foreign journalists.

For many women in the country's capital, 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?," Amna Salman Butt, told Reuters at a vigil for Mukadam in Islamabad this week that drew hundreds. "When someone mistreats us will we have to come up with hashtags too?," she said, referring to the #JusticeForNoor hashtag that has dominated Twitter in Pakistan.

"Every woman I have spoken to after Noor's case speaks about them feeling a heightened sense of fear, from the men around them," said Benazir Shah, a Lahore-based journalist. She said some complain of not being able to sleep at night.

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."

Earlier this month, lawmakers sought the opinion of a council of Islamic scholars on whether the legislation adhered to Islamic principles.

Qibla Ayaz, who heads the council, told Reuters 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 told Reuters.

"We all agree on the goal of stopping violence against women...but our sense is this bill might actually cause new social tension and lead to more domestic violence," Ayaz added.

World+Biz

murder / Diplomats / daughter / femcide / Pakistan

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Domestic airlines lose passengers to better road, rail service
    Domestic airlines lose passengers to better road, rail service
  • Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman, principal staff of the army, and Election Commission Secretary Jahangir Alam briefed media after a meeting on army deployment during the upcoming election. Photo: Collected
    JS polls: Army likely to be deployed on 29 December for 13 days
  • PHOTO: Collected
    Deposits in crore-taka accounts decline by Tk5,782cr in 3 months

MOST VIEWED

  • 10m barrel oil, 300b cubic feet gas found in Sylhet
    10m barrel oil, 300b cubic feet gas found in Sylhet
  •  ZARA ATELIER. Collection 04; The Jacket. Photo: Collected
    When art imitates cruelty: Dissecting Zara’s latest shoot
  • Photo: euronews
    Apps that use AI to undress women in photos soaring in use
  • The two metre long fossil is one of the most complete specimens of its type ever discovered. Photo: BBC
    Skull of huge sea monster Pliosaur discovered in UK's Dorset cliffs
  • Jamal Jamaloo: The song, dance and magic
    Jamal Jamaloo: The song, dance and magic
  • Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez visited Ramy Youssef's comedy club in Brooklyn. Photo: Collected
    Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez extend support for Gaza relief at fundraiser event

Related News

  • India top court upholds Modi’s move to scrap Kashmir’s autonomy
  • Soaring pollution in Pakistan's Lahore fills wards with sick children
  • Eight bus passengers killed by unknown gunmen in northern Pakistan
  • Pakistan acquits ex-Premier Nawaz Sharif in a graft case. He's now closer to running in elections
  • Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan replaced as party head

Features

Photo: Collected

Top budget-friendly geysers in the market right now

9h | Brands
Photo: Courtesy

Hazy Official: Scrunchies dipped in self-love

10h | Brands
Leaving the Desolation by Andrew Rogov via Pixels.

Delineating the depths of desolation…

9h | Features
Shashtho Chaka – Healthcare on Wheels has two buses, they plan to use one bus for the urban slums and another one for remote areas in villages.  Photos: Courtesy

Shashtho Chaka: Driving healthcare up to the doorstep of the poor

16h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Girona's Champions League hopes are still in stake

Girona's Champions League hopes are still in stake

4h | TBS SPORTS
How much Manchester United will earn from Champions League

How much Manchester United will earn from Champions League

2h | TBS SPORTS
Bangladeshi textile millers seek loan concession, increased LC limit

Bangladeshi textile millers seek loan concession, increased LC limit

1h | TBS Economy
The President of Argentina in the White House

The President of Argentina in the White House

4h | TBS World
EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]