Killing his daughter for TikTok shame

[MsAmerica]

Her Father Took Her on a Trip to Pakistan. The Police Say It Was a Trap.
Hira Anwar was pulled out of middle school for what she thought was a vacation. Her death is being investigated as a so-called honor killing.
By Sarah Maslin Nir and Zia ur-Rehman

In late January, while on a vacation with her father to his hometown, Quetta, Pakistan, Hira was shot to death in front of her father’s family home. Shortly after, her father, Anwar ul-Haq Rajpoot, tearfully told the police that a random attack had taken his daughter’s life. But the Pakistani police now say that the shooting, and in fact the entire trip, was a trap that he orchestrated.

In a chilling confession, Mr. Rajpoot told investigators he ordered Hira’s execution because her behavior was an embarrassment. Mr. Rajpoot had his daughter killed, he told the police, because “Hira’s clothing choices, lifestyle and social relationships” had brought her family shame.

In Yonkers, her school, her friends and her family are reeling, unable to process the death of an eighth grader whose sass impressed her teachers and whose staunch character made her a go-to referee among her girlfriends.

“It is hard for us to even understand mentally that this actually happened,” the eldest of her two sisters, Heba Anwar, 22, said before declining to comment further. “We were living a very happy nice life.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/nyregion/hira-anwar-honor-killing-pakistan.html

Not entirely sure what you want recorded where but nothing in my first reply is contradicted in any of my others.

It comes across that way. First it’s irrelevant to you but then you agree it’s more prevalent in some cultures.

Do you include religion as a cultural driver?

A quick google tells me that filicide is the correct term for when a parent murders a daughter.

At no point did I say culture was irrelevant
I said his religion was

Yes I thought you might be separating them out in order to say religion is irrelevant. Hence the question on whether you thought religion was a cultural driver.

I disagree that you can dismiss one over the other, religion informs culture. To a pretty big extent in some cases.

Domestic violence.
Different name, same shit.

Stop exploiting this murder for your own agenda.

I can’t begin to say how offensive I find “honour killing”. It’s murder. He murdered his daughter.

I do they they are 2 very different things
Murders like this happen in some cultures but (assuming this man is a Muslim) its not Islamic.
A lot of people confuse Culture and Religion, sometimes its a genuine mistake and sometimes its for other reasons

I don’t think it’s confusing. I think religion informs culture as I posted. In some countries more than others.

Agreed, some countries are more secular than others.
I am just very conscious that everytime a Muslim Man does something awful we focus on the first word there than the second.
That not only insults the vast majority of Muslim men but it excuses a murderer as it was a "religious" act rather than the act of an evil lunatic

I think we need to investigate the cultural and/or religious driver in honor killings. If we don’t we are letting young women at risk down. Without knowing the detail we cannot help the potential victims. I do wonder if we regularly put our fears of being called racist over girls and women’s safety.

We need to stop calling them honour killings too. It’s murder. There’s nothing dishonerable about wearing western clothes and making friends with western girls when living in a western country. And if there is that is an issue and suggests lack of integration into western society. Why has integration failed? What risk does this lack of integration pose to women and girls?

BBC article suggests it is cultural to defend the families honor -

‘Hundreds of people - most of them women - die in so-called honour killings in Pakistan each year, according to human rights groups. These killings are usually carried out by relatives who say they are acting in defence of their family's honour.’

She was murdered over tik tok videos according to the bbc.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8pvw3xxxeo.amp

I cannot find a lancet article on Pakistan but the
Lancet extract reports 8000 honor killings in Iran between 2010 and 2014. This suggests it’s more than a one off crazy father.

‘Honour killings are common in some cities in Iran. About 20 percent of all murders and 50 percent of family murders in East Azerbaijan province are related to sexual and honour issues.3Honour killings are defined as the perpetration of violence against women by male relatives with the intent to murder.4Honour killings punish women for bringing so-called disgrace upon their families, for example by refraining from forced marriage, being the victim of rape, getting divorced, having sexual relationships, or adultery. The social construction of honour as a value system, norm, or tradition is the main justification for the perpetration of violence against women.’

Pakistan has a lower murder rate than the US (4.3 per 100000 vs ~6 per 100000). Maybe the NYT should reserve it's concern for all the murders closer to home?

I think a newspaper should report if one of its school girls was murdered by her father for making tik tok videos. The bbc reported on it too.

Hopefully by reporting on it other young women may recognise they are at risk. It needs to be reported widely not covered up or ignored. If not it may suggest we are becoming desensitised to violence.

I can’t imagine saying we shouldn’t report on a British tourist being murdered in Austria by his wife (for example) because our murder rate is higher than Austrias so we should just focus on our domestic issues. Presumably this young woman was a citizen of the USA and she will have mattered a great deal to her friends and teachers and family. It is only right to report on the matter.

Don’t get me wrong we need to address knife crime and rape gangs too - we have serious issues in the UK that are not being addressed by the authorities.

Meanwhile, in mostly-Hindu India, female infanticide is rife, whilst in the UK, two women per week are murdered by a current or former partner.

The oppression of women looks different in different places, but it exists everywhere and the root problem is men.

Why should anyone not be able to discuss specific types of crimes? Most murders are of men, should we not discuss why men kill women at all then?

By not discussing this / investigating it / researching it we are letting down young women.

A quick google brings up a guardian article which shows this honour abuse is INCREASING in the U.K.

www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/07/honour-based-abuse-in-england-increases-60-in-two-years

‘Data from 26 out of 39 constabularies approached showed that there were 2,594 cases of “honour-based” abuse – which includes forced marriage, rape, death threats and assault – in 2022, compared with 1,599 in 2020.’

This is very concerning and our reluctance to speak on this matter is letting down women and girls.

I agree, @Grimtastic

Yes this is concerning. It should be discussed and addressed.

When you have theocracies around the world from a specific religion which closely regulates female sexual behavior, dress and also advocates female sexual slavery - think muslims from all over the world including the UK running to Syria to enslave Yazidi girls and think well known "dawah bros" like Mohammed Hijab from the UK doing so boldly online, then yes, religion is a relevant factor. The Uk knows this from experience. There is a Forced Marriage Unit at the FCDO. Look at its stats for 2023 and tell me religion is not a factor.
The highest number of cases in 2023 were:

• Pakistan - 138 cases (49%)
• Bangladesh - 29 cases (10%)
• Afghanistan - 23 cases (8%)
• India - 20 cases (7%)
• Somalia[footnote 2] - 7 cases (2%)
• Turkey - 6 cases (2%)

There are gatekeepers whenever this conversation is brought up at MN.

And to avoid conflict, western feminists are content to say it is a "men" problem rather than a religion problem. It is both and sometimes religion is a worse problem because it institutionalises the male rage and ownership of female bodies in the Family and Criminal provisions of dozens of countries. If the Catholic church were doing this you would be screaming blue murder. For avoidance of doubt, I am atheist. I say it as I see it.

This is an obvious tactic to stop discussion. Do stop.

It is a cultural issue no matter how much some posters want to say its just men. This is illustrated by the fact that very often the mothers, aunts and sisters of the victims are complicit. A friend of mine was taken to Pakistan on a "family holiday" at 13 and married off to an old man because she'd been seen talking to a boy at a bus stop. She hadn't been worried about going because "my mum won't let that happen".

I volunteered for a women's charity who had to insist that only white women worked with South Asian victims of DV because they'd had a number of cases of women volunteering under false pretences to track down family members who had brought shame on the family.

This situation may be different, but the man in this case has clearly been emboldened by a culture that puts supposed honour above the right to life of their women.