ISLAMABAD: As many as 7,733 cases of violence against women were reported in the print media all over Pakistan during the year 2008. Out of these, 4,360 were reported in Punjab, 1,385 in Sindh, 1,013 in NWFP, 763 in Balochistan and 212 in Islamabad.
The report “Situation of violence against women in Pakistan” was released by Aurat Foundation under its national programme “Policy and data monitor on violence against women” here on Tuesday.
Among all the reported cases, the percentage of abduction/kidnapping of women stood at 22.79 per cent which was the highest followed by murder 19.60 per cent, hurt and body injury 10.91, suicide 7.49, honour killing 6.10, rape 5.68, domestic violence 4.14, gang rape 3.97, torture 3.88, attempt to suicide 2.56, sexual assault 2.42, attempt to murder 1.59, custodial violence 1.51, threat of violence 0.91, vanni/customary practices 0.32 and miscellaneous cases 3.80 per cent.The highest number of violence cases was reported from Punjab. Out of the 4,360 cases in the province, 1,403 were of abduction followed by 690 cases of murder, 279 hurt and body injury, 316, 248 gang, 273 torture, 105 attempted suicide, 128 sexual assault, 49 threat to violence, 31 burning, 15 customary practices and 19 cases of acid throwing.
However, the highest number of cases of honour killing – 220 – , 320 domestic violence, 42 attempt to murder and 69 cases of custodial violence were reported in Sindh.
Rabia Haddi of Aurat Foundation said the report aimed to identify the number of cases of violence in Pakistan. It aims at creating a more informed and supportive environment for women besides mobilising social pressure on government authorities for remedial measures.
The data would in the long run provide policy and law reform input to federal and provincial governments, political parties and legislators through consultative processes on developing policy framework and institutional mechanisms for ending violence against women, she added.
Earlier, Shazia Parveen of the NGO deliberated upon the details of all the 17 forms of violence mentioned in the report. Highest among the cases of violence was abduction with 1,762 reported cases followed by 1,516 cases of murder, 844 cases of hurt and body injury, 579 cases of suicide, 472 honour killing, 439 cases of rape, 307 cases of gang rape, 320 of domestic violence, 300 of torture, 198 cases of attempted suicide and 187 cases of sexual assault, 123 cases of attempt to murder, 117 custodial violence, 70 threat to violence, 56 burning, 25 cases of vanni/customary practices, 24 acid throwing and 294 cases of violence of miscellaneous nature.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/18/2009
