Are The Punjabi & Muslim Cultures To Blame For Aqsa Parvez’s Tragic Death?

Honour killing: Dad, brother admit killing girl

By Allison Jones, The Canadian Press

BRAMPTON, Ont. – After 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez was murdered by her brother and father in a so-called honour killing, her mother blamed the slain girl for not obeying her family’s strict rules.

Alone in a police interview room after her son choked Aqsa to death in December 2007 and her husband took the fall for it, Anwar Jan was caught on a recording suggesting Aqsa’s murder was the headstrong teenager’s own fault.

“Aqsa, Aqsa, my daughter is dead. Everyone tried to explain to you,” she said.

“This would not have happened if you would have listened.”

Muhammad and Waqas Parvez, set for trial next year on first-degree murder charges, pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder.

In the weeks leading up to the killing Aqsa had clashed with her family — originally from Pakistan — over her desire to wear western clothing and not the hijab.

She had been living with a friend but was lured to the family’s Mississauga, Ont., home, just west of Toronto, that day by her brother, who told her she could pick up her clothes, Crown attorney Mara Basso said.

Waqas Parvez choked Aqsa to death in her bedroom less than 20 minutes after they arrived and then fled, according to an agreed statement of facts read in court. It’s apparent from the DNA found under her fingernails she tried to fight back.

Muhammad Parvez waited 15 minutes and then called 911, saying he had killed his daughter. Aqsa’s older brothers and sisters told police Waqas Parvez was at work — he was a tow truck driver on the night shift — at the time of the murder.

Waqas Parvez told a colleague two or three days before the murder that he was going to kill his sister because she was causing the family embarrassment, the statement said.

He said only he and his father were involved, but the family knew what was going on.

“Aqsa Parvez’s murder was a gender-based crime motivated by patriarchal concepts of honour and shame,” Basso said.

However, such a motive for murder should not be ascribed to any particular faith, she added.

According to the United Nations, as many as 5,000 girls and women are murdered every year around the world as part of so-called honour killings, a crime generally defined as the premeditated murder of a female relative believed to have brought dishonour upon her family.

A second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence. Both the Crown and defence are calling for them to be able to apply for parole only after 18 years.

Justice Bruce Durno will give his decision on sentence Wednesday.

In her police interview Jan said she asked Muhammad Parvez why he had killed their daughter.

“He said, ‘This is my insult. My community will say: you have not been able to control your daughter,'” Jan said.

The police asked if she thought killing her daughter was wrong. All she said was, “I don’t know.”

Her brothers and sisters didn’t condemn the killing either.

Usually in sentencing someone in such a crime, victim impact statements are entered as evidence of what the victim’s family has suffered.

The Crown entered none.

Basso said it would be “morally repugnant” to do otherwise.

Court heard that Aqsa and her family came to Canada when she was 11.

When she was 15 she began telling friends about conflict at home over cultural differences. Her family would not let her wear western clothes. They gave her no freedom, insisting she not go anywhere besides school and not get a part-time job.

She did not have a door on her bedroom.

Eventually she began to fear for her safety and a school counsellor took her to a shelter, where she stayed for three nights.

She returned home after her parents allowed her to wear western clothing but still complained to friends that her freedoms were severely restricted and she was not permitted to socialize outside school hours.

Aqsa then moved out to stay with a friend, whose mother welcomed her and said she could stay as long as she liked. But still, she complained her family would show up at her school to spy on her.

While staying with the friend Aqsa went to the movies for the first time in her life.