Shafilea Ahmed trial: sister describes seeing parents carry out killing
by Helen Carter.
The Pakistan teenager Shafilea Ahmed was killed by her parents on 11 September 2003.These are the words of her younger sister Alesha, who eye witnessed the terrifying scene and now testifies against her parents. She explains to the court what happened on that fateful day. The father and mother deny murdering their eldest daughter, but according to Alesha they deliberately suffocated their daughter to death in front of their other children. The reason for this “honour” killing was the fact that the parents disagreed with Shafila’s choice of friends and the way she liked to dress. Shafila lived a completely different live at college than she did at home and the fact that she could not keep her western teenage life a secret killed her eventually.
I think it is very sad to see two cultures collide. The Pakistan Muslim culture has very strict rules especially for girls. The English western culture is completely different from the Muslim and I can imagine that teenagers with a different background ,very much like the western way of living and perhaps even prefer it above their own culture. I do not think that is strange. They live in England and not in Pakistan and in England the western culture is represented everywhere. This murder would probably not have happened if the family lived in Pakistan, where the Muslim culture is strongly represented. Teenagers would not be tempted to wear different clothes because the majority is Muslim and not western and their friend would probably have the same religion. Still I found it very sad to read that two people are capable of killing their own child and have no remorse. If you cannot adjust in a country and live by its’ rules then you should reconsider your choice and maybe go back to where you came from.
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