The video footage of a 17-year-old girl being flogged by Taliban in Swat has received nationwide attention including condemnation from the President of Pakistan and sou motu notices by the Chief Justice of Pakistan. At the same time, honor killings of women in the country are being treated as something ‘routine’.

The news of the girl being flogged in Swat is there on the front page of every major newspaper of the country. Explanations have been demanded from high officials in the provincial administration and human rights activists have raised protests in some parts of the country. The mainstream media has, however, not confirmed the date of the incident – some sources claiming that it all happened recently, i.e. after the peace deal was signed between the militants and the provincial government; others regarding it an incident before the deal. Further investigation will reveal the core of the matter; and hopefully, the media will keep track of the issue.

Interestingly, the horrifying news of the brutal murder of a woman at the hands of her own family in Islamabad has been paid little heed. Rahila Tabasum’s murder by stabbing and shooting is reported to have been committed by her own brother after she used her right to marry the man of her choice. One wonders whether honor killing is not a more heinous crime than flogging. Or whether it is not bad after all to let a woman die rather than letting her live for further torture! In any case, women continue to suffer in our society. When they suffer at the hands of outsiders (militants), it becomes a national issue. If they are put to brutal death by their families, it is just a family matter. And if no FIR is filed by someone in the latter case, no so motu notices are issued and the high officials don’t even remember the news beyond a jiffy. Perhaps we should try to answer the question: what is worse for a woman – death or torture?