I also don't understand, if you don't want your children to be exposed to/adopt western ways, why move to a western nation? If he was so determined to raise his children with his culture and traditions, why leave Pakistan? Because a teenager is a teenager, no matter where they are, and they will absorb and want what they're exposed to and what their friends have and get to do.

I hope this creep burns in hell...so, pretty much the same way I feel about any "parent" who murders their child.

I understand that she may not have just been able to walk out the door at 18, however at 18 she could do so legally. I didn't read more on this, but it doesn't appear there was "abuse" before hand just very strict rules. But the things many parents do are emotionally abusive.

Also many abused women return home for whatever reason, even if they say they're leaving forever. Her brother may or may not have been in on the whole thing, he may have wanted to help punish her, but not kill her. Sadly a LOT of cruel things happen in families and you don't have to be an immigrant or of a minority culture to be stuck in an abusive home.

It makes the family look bad, shameful in the eyes of the community.

Understood, however people(westerners) don't seem to realize had she done that, she will, for the rest of her life, be looking over her shoulder no matter where she fled to.

I'm appalled and disgusted. That is not what morals and protecting your children is all about.

Still seems like a better alternative than going back.

Honestly, every one who leaves an abusive situation looks over their shoulder like that. A generalization maybe, but overall true.

Best article or commentary on the tragedy and attendant debate I have seen - or at least the best one I think in hitting the right points:

Like the article points out it was more the backwards patriarchal cultural crap that led to this than religion, it's just that many seem over eager to point the finger at religion in this case :(

PS> For the political watchers down south: did Huckabee really say that? Because wow :eek:

Thanks for posting the article. My heart is sad for her and others going through the same thing.

Of course it's cultural, but oftentimes, religion and culture are almost indistinguishable. Headgear (for men AND for women), for example, may not officially officially be part of a religion, but it's still considered part of a religion by certain cultures. I could start a religion that says "everyone must be well-fed" and years down the line certain people from this religion are very overweight, because they believe that being "well fed" means they need to eat a lot. Others may interpret "well-fed" as just eating well and eating enough.

Anyway, I'm surprised no one has compared any of this to Warren Jeffs/Bountiful, B.C. I just don't want people to see this case as just another child abuse/domestic abuse/violence against women case, because cultural misunderstanding may very well have played a role in Aqsa's death (unlike say, the Pickton case) In Canada, many of the higher profile victims in violence against women cases in larger cities, especially those involving a spouse or blood relative, involve either immigrant women/women whose parents are immigrants.

By the way, the girl's brother gets bail.

Ugh. At least the father's still in jail.

It's a shame then that the statistics don't bear that out - if anything they point to a higher incidence of spousal abuse and homicide amongst the native populations in the Territories than that of the most heavily immigrant regions of Canada:

http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepu...XIE2007000.pdf

I totally agree.

It's the lack of social services geared towards the population, I'd think. For native and many immigrant populations, standard/mainstream programs don't always work.