Honor Killings and Human Rebellion: A Glimpse into Pakistan’s Societal Paradox

by Irshad Ahmad Mughal & Dr. Qurat-Al-Ain Rana

The viral video from Balochistan—where a woman was executed in a desert for defying tribal norms—has once again exposed the brutal reality of Pakistan’s rigid social structures. Three months after the killing, public outrage forced the state into reluctant action, highlighting how deeply honor crimes are entrenched in the power dynamics of tribal and feudal systems. Yet beyond the horror of this specific act lies a more fundamental question: Why do individuals continue to rebel against such oppressive traditions, knowing the fatal consequences? The answer lies in the very essence of what makes us human—the refusal to accept chains, the instinct to resist even when resistance seems futile.

Pakistan’s society exists in a paradox. In its metropolitan centers, modernity is performed like a carefully rehearsed play, while in the vast tribal hinterlands, ancient codes rule with absolute authority. The same feudal lords who posture as progressive politicians in Islamabad and Lahore return to their fiefdoms to enforce medieval punishments for those who dare challenge tradition. This duality is not accidental—it is a calculated strategy to maintain power. The state’s half-hearted condemnations after each honor killing are meaningless because the system itself is built on the same foundations that permit such atrocities. The law remains deliberately weak, investigations are sabotaged, and justice is bartered in backroom deals between tribal elders and political elites.

Yet despite this machinery of oppression, rebellion persists. Young women elope, couples marry against their families’ wishes, and individuals refuse to bow to the tyranny of so-called honor. This defiance is not new—it echoes through history and myth. Milton’s Paradise Lost portrays Adam’s choice to eat the forbidden fruit not as mere disobedience but as an assertion of free will, despite knowing exile would follow. Prometheus stole fire from the gods, knowing eternal punishment awaited him. Spartacus led a slave revolt against Rome, fully aware of the empire’s overwhelming power. These stories endure because they speak to something fundamental in human nature: the refusal to accept subjugation, even when resistance seems doomed.

Albert Camus, in The Rebel, argued that the act of defiance is itself a declaration of humanity. To say no to oppression is to assert one’s existence against forces that seek to erase individuality. The victims of honor killings are not passive casualties—they are rebels in the truest sense. Their “crime” is often nothing more than choosing whom to love or how to live, yet in a system built on control, such choices are revolutionary. Many submit, of course— conditioned into obedience like sheep, too afraid or broken to resist. But those who do rebel, even at the cost of their lives, embody the spirit that has driven every struggle against tyranny throughout history.

The tragedy is that their resistance is crushed not just by tribal barbarity but by a state that enables it. Feudal lords sit in parliament, police turn a blind eye, and courts move at a glacial pace—all ensuring that the system remains unchallenged. Real change will not come from social media outrage alone but from dismantling the structures that allow such oppression to thrive. Until then, the rebellions will continue—small, desperate, and often fatal—because the human spirit cannot be fully extinguished. The choice before Pakistan is stark: cling to the brutality of the past or finally break free.

About the authors:

Irshad Ahmad Mughal and Dr. Qurat-ul-Ain Rana form a formidable intellectual partnership in contemporary Pakistani scholarship. Prof. Mughal, renowned for his Urdu translations of Paulo Freire’s revolutionary works and decades of teaching political philosophy at Punjab University, joins forces with Dr. Rana, an accomplished sociologist and social commentator whose razor-sharp analyses regularly grace Pakistan’s premier journals. Together, their collaborative writings for Pressenza weave rigorous academic insight with urgent social critique—bridging Western critical theory with South Asian realities to illuminate pathways for transformative change.”