Pakistan, April 4 -- In a decision that has reignited fierce debate over the country's tolerance for gender-based violence, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) last week released a man convicted of murdering his wife after her family accepted a pardon under Pakistan's controversial Islamic restitution laws. To add to the tragedy, the ruling cannot be overlooked as an anomaly but a symptom of a system where justice for women hinges on the whims of families-often those complicit in their oppression.

Pakistan's Qisas (retributive justice) and Diyat (blood money) laws, rooted in Islamic jurisprudence, treat murder as a private dispute rather than a state crime. While intended to offer reconciliation, these laws disproportionately fail women in cas...