Prestige/Honour (Izzat)

Prestige comes up as a major issue in rural litigation. Among others, Cohn and Lefebvre have written on the issue of prestige in North Indian and North Pakistani societies respectively. In the course of this study, one of the litigants gave this reason for spending more money than the actual worth of land: “getting it (the land) back from the possession of our opponents is a matter of prestige for us (the rural people). We can sacrifice our lives for the land.”

The violation of izzat (honour/prestige), directly or indirectly, underlies many disputes. Litigants often spent more money than the worth of the property at stake for the sake of izzat. Middle-class or wealthier households are willing to engage in litigation even if the cost is several times the value of the disputed land. At times, village factions get involved, and the courts become an instrument for playing out factional rivalry.

While izzatis generally translated as honor, a more appropriate translation is “prestige” or “face saving”. It is also important to maintain one’s prestige in status-ridden societies since a loss of face can encourage others to invade and plunder one’s property and belongings. While disputes relating to women are generally viewed as “honour” related, the concept of prestige is much broader.

Spending money and time to uphold prestige represents a strong cultural compulsion in the “honour conscious” societies of rural Pakistan. Socio-economic status is determined not only by wealth or assets (land) but also by intangible indicators such as izzat. This partly explains the high incidence of izzat-related property and criminal disputes.

Several households interviewed had spend five to ten times the monetary value of the disputed property on litigation. One on-going case in rural Rawalpindi centered around cutting trees at 8.30 p.m, after prayers in Ramazan. The plaintiff was pursuing the case because cutting a neighbour’s trees after the Isha (night) prayers in the holy month of fasting is perceived as a big insult. He was spending quite a bit on litigation, as it had become an issue of prestige for him and his family. But he was quite agreeable to taking back his case if the defendants were willing to apologise.

Like rural Punjab, izzat was also important in explaining the motives behind disputes in rural NWFP. Izzat is closely linked to gender. Men kill others if they suspect a violation of what they view as the “honour” of their women and most murder cases pertain to this issue. Karo-kari murders in rural Sindh and Balochistan constitute over 90% of criminal cases in the villages. The prevalence of “honour” crimes is likely to be quite high in Khaiber pakhtoon khwa and Punjab, although a very small percentage of such crimes is actually reported. In rural Sindh and Balochistan, the discrepancy between the actual prevalence of karo-kari related murders and their virtual absence in case files of the courts reflects the grave problem of under-reporting. In the villages, an over-whelming part of all “honour” related crimes and murders are not reported to the formal judicial system.

Although prestige come sup as a major issue in rural litigation more frequently, it is not altogether absent in urban litigation. The urban and rural are not always mutually exclusive. In some cases, the litigants live in urban areas while pursuing cases related to property in rural areas.