Honor Your Father..., Or Else!

I referenced this story in the comments section of an earlier post, but it deserves more attention. AP reports:

MULTAN, Pakistan — A father, angry that his eldest daughter had married against his wishes, slit her throat as she slept and then killed three of his other daughters in a remote village in eastern Pakistan, police said Saturday.

Nazir Ahmad, a laborer in his 40s, feared the younger girls, aged 4, 8, and 12, would follow in their sister's footsteps, police officer Shahzad Gul said.…

[T]he man's 25-year-old daughter, Muqadas Bibi, had married the man of her choice against her father's wishes some weeks ago. Ahmad contacted Bibi this week, saying he was ready to forgive her….

During a visit by Bibi to her parents' house, Ahmad slit her throat as she slept and then killed the other three girls…. police were investigating whether other relatives helped in the killings and were also looking for Bibi's husband.

Read it here.

I don't know about you, but I find this kind of behavior utterly repulsive and incomprehensible. -- something that must be resisted by every means available. If Ahmed were a lone madman, it might be unworthy of comment, but these "honor killings" are common in Islamic society.

The story notes that hundreds of young women are killed by their relatives in Pakistan every year because they have not followed their father's commands.

And it's not just in Pakistan. Note this article on "burning girls" in French Islamic communities.