The Politics of Legislating “Honor Crime” in Contemporary Pakistan

This chapter contemplates the ambivalent politics of human rights in Pakistan, particularly as it relates to legislating “honor crimes.” Using the 2016 killing of Qandeel Baloch, a social media celebrity in Pakistan, as a trampoline for theoretical reflection, this chapter undertakes the difficult task of both acknowledging how the frame of honor killing and the language of rights has created space for activists in Pakistan to coerce the state into instituting important measures to protect women and arguing that these frames reiterate the state as a purveyor of women's rights, effectively masking the complicity of the state and religious elites in creating the conditions for women's subordination.