Westlaw® 14 BFHRLR 51 14 Buff. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 51 Page 1 Buffalo Human Rights Law Review 2008 Article *51 JUDICIAL PATRONAGE OF 'HONOR KILLINGS' IN PAKISTAN: THE SUPREME COURT'S PER- SISTENT ADHERENCE TO THE DOCTRINE OF GRAVE AND SUDDEN PROVOCATION Moeen H. Cheema [FNd1] Copyright (c) 2007 Buffalo Human Rights Law Review; Moeen H. Cheema I. Introduction Pakistan has earned considerable notoriety on the international stage because of its failure to curb violent crimes against women committed in the name of honor. [FN1] Academic analyses of the state's failure to de- ter honor killings focus primarily on lacunae in statutory law (especially the Islamized provisions introduced by legislation), while assigning secondary blame to gaps in the criminal justice system, failings of the poli- cing system, and the inherent defects in the workings of the informal tribal or community-based adjudicatory mechanisms. [FN2] However, most of these studies fail to dissect the perplexing array of Pakistan's laws, es- pecially the different punishment regimes and rules concerning pardon that apply to various categories*52 of murder. [FN3] As such, these studies miss the mark since the main culprit is neither the substantive legal provisions nor the frequently demonized Islamic law provisions, but rather, the superior judiciary of Pakistan which has historically patronized honor killing by consistently exercising all available discretion in sentencing to the benefit of those accused of such crimes. Although Pakistan's Parliament has now passed an act with the stated aim of deterring murder in the 'name or on the pretext of honor,' [FN4] the author anticipates that the historical approach of the judiciary towards honor killings will be adhered to, resulting in the continued, relatively lenient treatment of honor killings. Certain ambiguities rooted in the text of the Act appear to encourage the courts to disregard the Act in many cases of honor killings. [FN5] In order to understand the basis of this prediction, it is important to appreciate the history of the judicial approach towards sentencing and the allegiance to the exculpatory doc- trine of grave and sudden provocation in Pakistan, lately in the face of statutory intervention as well as Is- lamic law doctrines. Part II of this Note shall, therefore, review the historical (pre-1990) approach of Pakistan's courts towards punishment of the accused under Pakistan's Penal Code provisions dating back to British colonial times. Part III shall outline the Islamized provisions that the Qisas and Diyat legislation in- troduced in 1990 and the approach adopted by Pakistan's courts towards implementing and applying these laws from 1990 until 1995. Part IV shall analyze two important Supreme Court judgments delivered in late 1995 and reported in early 1996, which opened the floodgates for judicial patronage of honor killings. Part V shall analyze the attempt by the legislature in 2004 to withdraw judicial discretion in sentencing for cases of murder in the name of honor, and Part VI shall *53 identify the increasingly visible signs that the Su- preme Court is ready to sidestep this legislation, once again, in