Violence against women up with relatives as likeliest offenders
Lahore (AsiaNews) – The most common crimes against women in Pakistan’s Punjab province include honour killing, abductions, torture and even burning; last year their number rose considerably. This kind of violence however has gone largely unpunished according to the annual Report on Violence Against Women that was released by the Citizen’s Commission for Human Development at a press conference yesterday in Lahore.
The report noted a tragic increase in the violence against women. For the first time since annual reports were released nine years ago murder topped the list with 901 cases, involving relatives in 747 of them. Police investigated only 600 cases, arresting 122 people, but only 30 were found guilty.
Kidnapping was the second most common form of violence against women in 2007 in the province. A total of 688 women were kidnapped but only 49 arrests were made. Abducting women is a traditional practice in the country where young men from wealthy tribes feel entitled to kidnap and marry women from socially inferior tribes. But what is striking for the authors of the report is the degree of apathy shown by law enforcement agencies.
Suicide is in third place with 500 cases, followed by rape with 457 reported cases (with 295 of them going to police).
Last but not least as many as 100 women were burnt for their alleged infidelity or poor adherence to Muslim norms. Only three cases led to an arrest.
According to the Commission the figures it used to write the report come from government sources and are limited to one province. If the Border Tribal Areas were included the number would be much higher but here crimes against women are never brought to the attention of the authorities. Instead murders and burning are considered appropriate punishment for women deemed guilty of unislamic behaviour even by their families. Judges no longer intervene.
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07/02/2019 17:28
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