57 women killed in Balochistan in 2021

Quetta tops list of incidents of violence against women

QUETTA:

Women in the tribal society of Balochistan are not new to violence including rape, murder and domestic violence and the year 2021 was also not kind to them as around 49 cases of honour killing were reported across the province.

In total 129 cases of violence were recorded against women, says a report issued by the Aurat Foundation Balochsitan.

As per the report the provincial capital Quetta is on the top of the list as out of 129, the largest number of cases were recorded in Quetta.

There were 33 incidents of violence including 12 torture cases, three rape cases and two honour killing cases in Quetta last year.

Four cases of sexual harassment also occurred there. In 78 cases women were killed brutally including 49 honour killing cases and 29 other incidents in which women lost their lives.

After the murder, torture was the most widespread crime against women in the province with 28 cases reported.

Most of the honour killing cases were reported in Naseerabad district as 27 incidents occurred in this district alone.

Naseerabad was followed by Jaffarabad and Mastung with five cases each. Two cases each were reported from Zhob and Quetta districts and two from Kalat and Kohlu each.

Unfortunately, Quetta was on the top of the torture case with 12 incidents. Eight cases of murder of women were also reported from the capital city of Quetta, four from Lasbella and three from Khuzdar.

By the same token, across Balochistan 57 women and 21 men were murdered last year in a total 78 cases.

Around 28 women also lost lives to honour killing as in most cases girls were killed while their suitors were spared by the tribal Jirga.

It is worth noting here that these are only those cases reported in the media. A large number of cases are not reported to even police and very few of them are covered by media.

The report indicates that eight kidnapping cases of women also took place in the province along with five cases of rape and gang rape.

Talking to The Express Tribune Resident Director Aurat Foundation Allaudin Khilji said that the increasing number of violence cases again women is unfortunate.

“What is worrisome is that women are killed in the parts of Balochistan in the name of bad character and men are left alive and this custom has taken roots in the past few years,” he said, adding that it points all fingers to the traditional Jirga system which has turned the honour killing into a trade.

“Men are often produced before the Jirga for having a relationship with girls and they are often spared and asked to pay large fines in return,” he added, saying that tribal elders, intellectuals, parliamentarians and civil society should play its role in changing this situation.

“Women were killed in the name of honour, Karo Kari, raped, gang-raped, abducted and targeted in domestic violence cases across Balochistan,” he said, adding that women are treated with violence every in this province and country.