Honour killings in Pakistan are known locally as karo-kari (Urdu: کاروکاری). According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, over 470 cases of honour killings were reported in Pakistan in 2021. But human rights defenders estimate that around 1,000 women are murdered in the name of honour every year. An honour killing is the murder of a member of a social group by other members, due to the belief the victim has brought dishonour upon the family or community. The death of the victim is viewed as a way to restore the reputation and honour of the family.

It is likely that honour killing has been a practice in Pakistan for many years, and, despite recent legal reforms, it remains a common practice in Pakistan today. Both international and Pakistani activists and activist groups are pushing for an end to the practice, although some say that change will not truly happen unless the general public chooses to condemn the practice.

Honour killing is an act of murder, in which a person is murdered for his or her perceived immoral behaviour. Such "immoral behaviour" may take the form of alleged marital infidelity, refusal to submit to an arranged marriage, demanding a divorce, perceived flirtatious behaviour and being raped. Suspicion and accusations alone are many times enough to defile a family's honour and therefore enough to warrant the killing of the woman.

In patriarchal cultures like Pakistan, women's lives are structured through a strict maintenance of an honour code. In order to preserve woman's chastity, women must abide by socially restrictive cultural practices pertaining to women's status and family izzat, or honour, such as the practice of purdah, the segregation of sexes. Honour killings are frequently more complex than the stated excuses of the perpetrators. More often than not, the murder relates to inheritance problems, feud-settling, or to get rid of the wife, for instance in order to remarry. Human rights agencies in Pakistan have repeatedly emphasized that victims were often women wanting to marry of their own will. In such cases, the victims held properties that the male members of their families did not wish to lose if the woman chose to marry outside the family.

A 1999 Amnesty International report drew specific attention to "the failure of the authorities to prevent these killings by investigating and punishing the perpetrators". According to women's rights advocates, the concepts of women as property and honour are so deeply entrenched in the social, political and economic fabric of Pakistan that the government, for the most part, ignores the daily occurrences of women being killed and maimed by their families. The fact that much of Pakistan's Tribal Areas are semi-autonomous and governed by often fundamentalist leaders makes federal enforcement difficult when attempted. In cases of murder, the victim's family is allowed to pardon the perpetrators, or reach a monetary settlement. The culprits are then free from prosecution and sentencing.

Both Appiah and Jafri explain the historical significance of karo-kari (Urdu: کاروکاری) within Pakistan. Karo can be directly translated as "black [or 'blackened'] man" and kari as "black [or 'blackened] woman" and refers to sexual intercourse outside the bonds of marriage. The term karo-kari is commonly used as a synonym to honour killing, especially in the Sindh region of Pakistan.

Originally, karo and kari were metaphoric terms for adulterer and adulteress, but it has come to be used with regards to multiple forms of perceived immoral behavior. Once a woman is labeled as a kari, family members consider themselves to be authorized to kill her and the co-accused karo in order to restore family honour. In the majority of cases, the victim of the attacks is female with her attackers being male members of her family or community.

Pakistan is a collective, patriarchal society, and therefore social boundaries and community regard are based on honour; in this situation, honour is based on the behaviour of kin or members of a certain group. A Pakistani folk saying describes well the cultural importance of honour: "Daulat khonay pur kuch naheen khota, sihat khonay pur kuch kho jaata hai, ghairat khonay pur sub kuch kho jaata hai" ("When wealth is lost nothing is lost; when health is lost something is lost; when honour is lost everything is lost"). In Pakistan, honour is focused more on the perception of the community versus actual evidence. Honour is important for both women and men to uphold; women protect honour by modesty and men by masculinity. The cultural perspective behind honour is that if a woman does something that the community perceives as immodest then the men in her family must uphold their masculinity and regain the family honour by murdering the woman. If this action isn't completed the shame and dishonour can extend beyond the immediate family to the entire lineage, or even to the entire community. There are multiple other cultural characteristics that contribute to honour including a strong disdain for death. Due to this, the perpetrator of an honour killing is highly regarded in the community because of their courage and because what they had to endure through with murdering another was worse than death itself. Many women are victimized by their own family members due to their defiance of familial expectations regarding love and marriage. This wave of violence has been exacerbated by a growing trend towards conservatism. Recent reports from the local Aurat Foundation reveal a 70 percent surge in honour killings between 2016 – 2017.