Shafilea- Who is Implicated?

Shafilea was only 17 when she was murdered.

The shocking reality of Shafilea Ahmed's murder is difficult to convey, and perhaps strangest is that condolences can't be offered to her parents- because she is dead because of them. We speculate as to the reasons why she was killed, but realistically all we can do is guess at a look through such a closed community. What brings a parent to kill their own child? How can such an unnatural act be explained? On the night of Shafilea's murder, the argument began because she had come home from work wearing trousers, a t-shirt and a hooded cardigan. Hardly rebellious in Britain, but I understand how the outfit differs from traditional muslim dress. Yet, how could they raise their children in Warrington and expect them not to be influenced by their peers at school? Shafilea's dreams were to study at university and become a lawyer- again, hardly disgraceful. Plenty of parents would be full of pride if that was their daughter's aspiration.

Yet, the Ahmed's killed their daughter. Farzana Ahmed was seen preparing sheets of linen and rolls of tape earlier in the day, and her husband stuffed their eldest daughter's mouth with a plastic bag after Farzana said that they should finish it there. All their other children bore witness as Shafilea's eyes widened in shock and her legs stopped kicking. Her father, Iftikhar Ahmed, then drove her body deep into the Lake District where it wasn't found until February 2004, around 5 months after her murder.

Murder shouldn't be a matter of the home, but it seems that in the Ahmed's case it was exclusively so. The thing that is so difficult to determine is whether Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed are just killers and chose their daughter, or if, had Shafilea never pushed their religious and cultural boundaries, the Ahmeds would never have killed. I lean more towards thinking that the Ahmeds would not have killed unless under this circumstance. So, how could their own misconstrued sense of community and 'honour' be more powerful than the love of their own child? Iftikhar himself had previously been married to a Danish woman and had a child with her, his marriage to Farzana was his very own arranged marriage. Described by one of the nurses who treated Shafilea after she had drank bleach as a cry for help in 2003, the family was 'loveless'. Perhaps Iftikhar and Farzana saw their children as a mere extension of their unhappy marriage and thought the only way they could make them happier was by bringing them 'honour' in their community.

It has taken almost ten years for Shafilea's parents' conviction

 The entire topic lays an egg shell floor. Her murder goes hand in hand with her community. Or does it? Is it just the parents or is it the religion? How can we know when we are afraid to even ask the question? I'm sure many muslim families would be deeply offended at the suggestion that they could kill their children in the name of warped community reputations. Yet, why else did the Ahmeds kill their daughter if not for that very reason. As one Guardian article claims, this is a crime meshed in migration and modernity- but unlike the article proceeds, Britain cannot be implicated. Farzana and Iftikhar hate all 'western' concepts- how can you build on or interfere with that? They live in and raised their children in a country they despise- and that is why Shafilea was murdered. How can they have expected to have everything? To live in better conditions in the 'west', yet demand their daughters followed the archaic rituals of arranged marriage and housewifeship? Their failings as loving, understanding, caring parents are glaringly obvious, regardless of their religion/ culture, yet their crime was because of their religion and culture.