Nafisa Shah's landmark study on honour-related violence Honour Unmasked: Gender Violence, Law, and Power in Pakistan published by Oxford University Press (OUP) was launched at an event held at the Arts Council. The book is a sensitive, scholarly, and lucid treatise on the topic of honour killings. It offers a new perspective for understanding and dealing with honour-related violence, demonstrating that honour does not lead to violence but that such violence is strategy "masked in honour".
Based on Nafisa Shah's perceptive insights over years of experience as a journalist, researcher, and administrator, this fascinating study highlights how the state justice system and informal processes of redress are mutually implicated in providing a space for honour-related violence in the Sindh province, known as karo-kari. The author emphasises that the label, karo-kari, masks diverse underlying factors such as contest over leadership, resources, or marital strategies, and uses the language of honour as a means of legitimising and appropriating power.
Nafisa Shah is an academic, writer, artist, and politician. She has a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oxford. She is presently serving her second term as Member of the National Assembly from the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian platform. As an MNA, Shah is a strong voice on rights-based policy and has led cross-party caucusing on gender.-PR