Day: July 22, 2011

LAHORE: Some 3,035 cases of violence against women were recorded in the first six months of 2011 in Punjab, says a report.

Ex-MNA Mehnaz Rafi, MPA Sajida Mir, Legal Advisor to Governor Abdullah Malik, Erum Sajjad Gul, Advocate Supreme Court, Nabeela Shaheen Regional Coordinator and Abid Ali Programme Officer while addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Thursday said an NGO released these statistics in the first of its bi-annual reports for 2011 on violence against women in the province.

The report said 3,301 women and 266 men had been victimized from January to June 2011. The report is the work of Aurat Foundation under its PDM-VAW project. The data showed that abduction/kidnapping topped the list as the most frequent crime with a total of 1,069 women victims. Murder came in second with a total of 611 victims. Out of these, 156 cases were instances of honour killing, and 96 women were targeted with attempts to murder but survived.

There were 345 victims of rape/gang rape including two cases of incest. Suicide was also seen on a high level with 278 women committing suicide and 189 attempting to commit suicide. Apart from these cases, the types of offences committed are as follows: acid throwing, burning, domestic violence, early marriage, forced marriage, trafficking, and threat to life, harassment, illegal custody, vani, sexual assault, torture and injury.

Of the total 3,035 cases 2,542 cases were registered with the police, i.e. their FIRs were registered while 103 were not registered and 390 did not have enough information to be registered. Furthermore, 1,404 cases were reported from the rural areas of Punjab, 1,489 from the urban areas, and 142 cases were unknown. It’s pertinent to note here that the urban areas show a higher number of cases irrespective of claiming to be more literate and sensitized.

Of the total females victimized in Jan-June 2011, 1,558 have been unmarried, 1,309 married, 43 divorced, 65 widowed and 326 were unknown. The age group distribution showed that 506 women were under 18 years of age, 267 women ranged from 19 to 36 years of age and 61 were above 36. The ages of 2,467 women were unknown.

It is a very alarming scenario that most of the abusers are husbands, fathers, brothers, relatives or people they knew. It reflects the insecurity of these supposedly secure relationships where the ‘protectors’ are the ones who are actually committing crimes against women.

A district wise categorization of the data shows that Lahore has a large number of VAW cases; Lahore 506 cases, Faisalabad 499, Rawalpindi 220 cases, Sargodha 168, Multan 165, Chakwal 143 and Sheikhupura 128 cases. Moreover, Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Jehlum, Attock and Okara also show a reasonably large number of VAW cases.

According to the data, from January to June 2011, 18 women are being victimized daily in Punjab. On average, the further break-up is as mentioned; 5 abducted, 2 murdered, 2 raped and one suicide per day. Out of the 986 cases of abduction, 1,069 women, and 39 men &children were victimized.

Of the 1,069 women, 741 were unmarried, while 277 were married. In most of these cases, the abductor was a known person or a local residential, neighbour etc. Motives behind such cases were reported as marriages of choice, revenge etc. the district-wise break-up in abduction cases is:

Lahore 127 cases, Faisalabad 199 cases, Rawalpindi 68, Sargodha 60 and Sheikhupura 55 cases. In 405 murder cases, 455 women and 62 men were victimized. Most of the murderers were husbands, brothers, sons and fathers.

Source: The News

Date:7/22/2011

UMERKOT: Police on Thursday registered an NC against female in-laws of a woman for torturing and abandoning her in injured condition.

The victim was hospitalized after narrating her ordeal at the police station.

Ms Rehmat Palli of Sadhar village reached the Dhoronaro police station in bruised condition from head to toe. Narrating her sufferings, she said that her son was engaged to the daughter of her husband`s brother two years ago and she faced humiliation for insisting on fixing marriage date.

A day earlier she again asked her brother-in-law Mitho Pilli to fix wedding date on which his two daughters Zeenat and Husna along with another woman Zohran attacked Rehmat Pilli with batons and bricks and left her in a pool of blood to die.

“This was the fourth such instance as on three earlier occasions I faced similar fate but at the hands of male-in-laws. My life is full of misery,” she said.

Source: Dawn

Date:7/22/2011

Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

For gender mainstreaming and gender equity to move beyond jargons, we need to move beyond projects and concentrate on processes. Change always takes time and its due course.

By the time these words are printed, Pakistan would have a female foreign minister. She would be the same lady who had the honour of being the only woman in the country’s history to have presented the national budget.

As I write, the media has gone crazy heralding this as a revolutionary step for gender empowerment. “Gender empowerment” and “gender equity” are the buzzwords nowadays, but like most jargons, often mentioned but often misunderstood.

Even in the corridors of power and the symbols of democracy, these words only stand as a formality or a tool for political point-scoring. In Pakistan, women have been exploited and suppressed under the male dominant culture, which has been prevalent in society since centuries. There are shining examples but these are only a few who challenged the taboos of society and took initiative in their respective fields to acquire the status they deserved.

There are positive role models but regrettably these and many other examples were not enough to change the mindset of our society, which still adheres to norms that were made centuries earlier and where the role of women had been minimised and submission was the only option left for them. We will have to move beyond individual examples and focus upon the general challenges facing women in Pakistan.

Cases of domestic violence, biasness, honour killings, harassment and rape are largely prevalent in the 21st century Pakistan. These crimes are not only present in the rural areas but also the urban areas as well. Poverty, low rate of literacy and lack of awareness exacerbates the challenge.

The deprivation of women’s rights prevents them from attaining the status of an equal citizen. Access to justice system for women yet needs improvement. While women constitute half of the country’s population, they have been refrained from actively contributing in reformation and development. In addition, during the recent war on terror, radical elements have also exploited women for their own vested agenda. The appearance of female suicide bombers and the burqa-clad brigade of the Red Mosque are prime examples. In Swat, initially the Taliban aimed to influence women through their sermons; ironically, as soon as they gained a grip on the area, women were the most to suffer at their hands. The shutdown and destruction of female schools and colleges, apart from the widely publicised public flogging of women, were part of the Taliban policies.

Civil society organisations can play a very important role and I do not mean only non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The tragedy is that the word ‘civil society’ has become synonymous with only NGOs. Media is also a part of civil society. It is only when organisations like the Aurat Foundation (AF) and Shirkat Gah to mention a few, partner with media organisations and platforms that we can see the beginning of sustainable mindset change. Till now the issue of gender equality had been placed on the backburner while the media has been busy in glamorising or brutalising women. Financial support for initiatives and linkages is essential and here international donors like USAID, the European Union, etc, can facilitate. However, an interface between donors, deep rooted rights-based organisations like the AF and the media is what has been missing for decades in our work. The sooner these linkages are established, the better.

Some progress has been made because of USAID, AF media sensitisation sessions on gender equity. One point to ponder upon is that there are many organisations that are already engaging the media on various issues including gender equity. But would it end up in consolidating the effort or would it only create duplicity? It is imperative that donor organisations and civil society should aim towards consolidation. A profound need assessment is the requirement of the hour. These organisations should coordinate with representing bodies such as journalist unions and press clubs, to carry out a gap analysis, in order to avoid duplication of effort. This assessment can further be utilised to build up on any current initiatives. As the situation in various parts of the country also differs, the programmes can be customised according to the requirements of the local media. As I have mentioned before, media is an ally and as per conventional wisdom a common objective should be present among allies. Civil society cannot expect the media to perform unless and until its needs are not catered to. Active coordination is the solution and an active coordination of civil society with the media will also assist in mobilisation of public opinion.

For gender mainstreaming and gender equity to move beyond jargons, we need to move beyond projects and concentrate on processes. Change always takes time and its due course. Someone who thinks that a series of workshops or a few projects will result in altering society probably has a utopian image in mind. It will take years of effort and countless such activities and building up on those activities, which will eventually yield the proper result. But in order to reach there, a first step has to be taken and that is where we are standing now.

Continuous struggle is the key here, as women empowerment will not be achieved overnight. Creating awareness and sensitisation within society will take time. Every aspect of the problem will have to be addressed and each section will have to be engaged. The media will play an essential role in this long struggle, towards creating awareness and finally achieving women empowerment. It will be responsible for attaining the sustainability and consolidating on the foundations already laid down during the initiatives.

Source: Daily Times

Date:7/22/2011