Pakistan: Female Dancer Shot Dead, Police To Probe Honour Killing Angle

In Pakistan's Punjab province, a young woman was reportedly shot dead this week by unidentified gunmen. Identified as one Ayesha, the woman was a dancer and stage performer. She was heading towards a theatre in Faisalabad Monday evening, when the shooting incident took place.

As per reports, this is the second such incident of an entertainer being gunned down in Pakistan this year. A male dancer was killed last month during a performance in Rawalpindi by a bullet fired by a drunk audience member. The bullet was reportedly meant for a female dancer.

Reports on the Faisalabad killing suggest Ayesha was in a relationship with a man from her neighbourhood and was divorced from her husband. Both men will reportedly be questioned in connection to the case, for leads on the accused. No suspects have been named in the FIR, reports suggest.

"Police are probing the matter on different aspects like whether she was killed in the name of honour," a cop was quoted saying by news agency PTI. 

Suggested Reading: Men Don’t Hate Women. They Only Hate Women Who Break The Rules

Honour killing is a fairly common practice in South Asian countries like Pakistan and India. It refers to a murder committed by the target's kin to preserve the family's honour. The honour killing case of social media star Qandeel Baloch, who was strangled to death by her brother in 2016, remains one of the most well-known of its kind in Pakistan.

Female public entertainers are routine targets of violence in Pakistan's patriarchal society, reports show.

In 2017, famous actor and dancer Shamim was killed outside her home in Multan by unidentified gunmen in what some reports at the time called a possible case of honour killing. Actor-singer Sumbul Khan was also shot dead in 2018 insider her house after she reportedly refused to perform at a high-profile party.

Suggested Reading: Why Sexist Dialogues From Hindi Films Should Bother Us More Than They Actually Do

Nonprofits have estimated the number of honour killings in Pakistan reaches thousand a year, although definite data is unavailable since such cases remain largely unreported.

A landmark ruling after Baloch's death, that prompted wide global outrage, sought to reform laws related to honour killing in Pakistan. However, a loophole exists in the law that allows convicts to be pardoned. Baloch's brother who killed her, in fact, was released earlier this month.