Now that we have “honor killings” not just in Pakistan and Yemen but in Germany, Scandinavia, Britain, Ontario and Texas, we ought to bring ourselves up to speed on the correct form. Aqsa Parvez was murdered in Brampton (near Toronto) a year ago today. Joe Warmington of The Toronto Sun paid a visit to her grave:
Number 774. One year to the day Aqsa Parvez was stolen from this world — allegedly by two members of her family — that is all there is at her gravesite to show she even existed.
Section 17, plot number 774, in the Meadowvale Cemetery in Brampton, to be precise. No name, no date of birth, no date of death. No nothing…
Her father and brother will be in court next week to answer to charges of first-degree murder.
At Parvez’ gravesite, one would never know the 16-year-old Grade 11 Applewood Heights Secondary School student was buried here. You would never know anybody was buried here.
“If not for a couple of her girlfriends, who put some flowers there, there would be nothing,” said a disgusted Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and author of Chasing a Mirage, The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State. “It’s disgraceful…”
Speaking in general terms, Fatah said “a victim of an honour killing is always left in an unmarked grave.”
But a Minnesotan suicide bomber gets his remains brought home from Somalia at taxpayer expense for what looks here like a very respectful and well-attended funeral. An honorable death, presumably.