Violence against women: Highest number of reported cases in Punjab

A report on the “Situation of Violence against Women" revealed that Punjab dominated with 2690 registered cases.

ISLAMABAD: The first bi-annual report on the “Situation of Violence against Women in Pakistan 2010’ by the Aurat Foundation revealed that Punjab dominated with 2690 registered cases out of a total of 4069 incidents in various parts of the country.

Rabea Hadi, Project Manager Policy and Data Monitor, said during a press conference on Friday that Balochistan had the least number of reported cases, with only 56 registered in the province.

Explaining the low number of incidents in Balochistan, she said that violence cases are generally not reported because of traditional setup and low accessibility.

The objective of compiling the report was to advocate zero tolerance for violence against women in Pakistan. The data was gathered and compiled from newspapers of all regions and languages.

Hadi said the findings represent slight decrease in the reported cases of violence as compared to the first six months of 2009, during which 4514 cases were reported throughout the country.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 342 cases of violence against women were reported which mainly included 161 cases of murder, 54 cases of domestic violence, 37 cases of abduction and kidnapping and 30 cases of suicide.

In Sindh, 940 cases of violence were reported that included 143 cases of abduction, 147 of honour killings, 160 of murder and 79 of suicide, whereas 95 women were raped or gang raped in the last six months.

In Punjab, the highest number of reported violence cases (913) were of abduction and kidnapping, 381
women were murdered, 377 were raped or gang raped, 166 committed suicide where as 102 were killed in the name of honour.

In Balochistan, no cases of women being abducted or kidnapped were reported, 12 were murdered, four were raped or gang raped, 8 committed suicide whereas 20 incidents of honour killings were reported in the province.

She said in the report cases of violence against women registered in the capital have a separate section.

“During the first six months of this year, about 41 cases of violence against women were registered; out of this, five cases were of murder, six of abduction, three cases of domestic violence and rape, one of sexual assault, two incidents of suicide, one of acid throwing and 20 cases of miscellaneous nature of offences against women.

The participants expressed concern over the possibility of women trafficking in the flood hit areas.

They said that there is a dire need to monitor the situation and the status of  women affected in the recent floods.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2010.