January 1, 2017 – Pakistan Gender News

January 1, 2017January 3, 2017

No let-up in gender-based violence in Karachi in 2016

By Zoya Anwer

With the year 2016 coming to an end, the last week of December saw a chilling attack on two women in Taseer Town of Karachi over reasons yet to be known.

The mother and daughter were both slaughtered at their house and according to initial police reports, the two might have been drugged before being killed.

While it might be a case of personal feud, the possibility of a sexual assault cannot be ruled out in such cases. In March, the body of a minor was found floating after she had been raped in Orangi Town.

Several times in the year, the metropolis, which is known for its diversity and amiability, saw terrible forms of gender-based violence rearing their ugly heads, making 2016 not much different than previous ones.

Acid attacks

At the end of July this year, a teenage girl received 50 percent burn wounds after a boy threw acid on her face in reaction to refusing his marriage proposal.

But before one can turn to authorities for legal action, it was known that the culprit was released on bail even when the law in place states a life term for such people.

Even though a lot of hue-and-cry was raised in Punjab after a bill against domestic violence was passed, a husband threw acid on his wife in February after quarrelling with her at their residence in Korangi.

Mehnaz Rehman of Aurat Foundation said that these cases were greatly linked to societal pressure and the association of power with male privilege. “There are times when the girl is asked to marry the culprit who threw the acid on her because extreme pressure is levied on the family and it does sound despicable as to how that girl would even think of forgiving let alone spending life with that person but because of their social stature, people often give in,” she explained.

Killings

With around 75 cases reported till August this year, there were some which caught attention especially the case of a young woman who was slaughtered by her own brother marking a case of honour killing in the city.

Twenty-year-old Hayat Khan killed his 16-year-old sister because she spoke to a man on phone and the neighbours told him that she was often seen talking to him at the door. Two months ago, a husband had shot his wife in a fit of rage after getting into an argument with her and later earlier in December a man who was in prison for murdering his first wife strangulated the second after he had been released on the pretext of ‘honour killing’, making it the third such instance that week.

As of last year, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 939 women became victims of sexual violence, 279 of domestic violence, 143 were attacked with acid or burnt, and 833 were kidnapped.

Despite the volume of cases, the rate of prosecution remained fairly low and the database recorded 987 cases of honour crimes in 2015 with 1,096 female victims and 88 male victims – 170 of them were minors.

Commenting on this year’s numbers, HRCP chairperson Zohra Yusuf said that not much had changed this year.

“The violence by and large has remained the same but as far as honour killings are concerned, at one in a city like Karachi we hardly saw any incidence but it has beginning to happened here and I believe it’s primarily because of migration because when people migrate, they bring their own customs where honour is associated with the identity of a woman,” she observed.

However she added that no one had been charged under the new bill because it has been passed in October and the cases filed under the new law because enforcement is very weak.

Rape and sexual assault

According to the non-governmental body War Against Rape (WAR), which released data on rape cases till August, 189 cases have been reported till the last week of December with 64 cases at the Jinnah Post Medical Centre, 67 at the Civil Hospital Police Surgeon’s Office and 68 at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Earlier, WAR had identified localities of Korangi and Orangi as areas prone to sexual violence based on the number of cases from January 2015 to June 2016 with 616 cases reported at government hospitals with only FIRs accounted for just 24 percent of the cases. During this time, 616 medico-legal examinations were carried out with 122 FIRs reported at 112 police stations.

Sheraz Ahmed, a programme officer at WAR, said with the presence of only seven female medico-legal officers at hospitals, the survivors often hesitated in filing a formal complaint because many a time the female MLOs were not present during their duty hours and given that tests were supposed to carried out quickly, the delay hampered with evidence, creating hurdles in the case later.

Yet it is ironic to see the varying numbers between the data provided by AIGP Special Branch and offices of the city police chief because the Branch reported 1128 cases while the second reported 472 cases with a stark difference of 51 percent from 2005 to 2014. However out of the 30 cases taken especially by WAR, seven concluded with success.

The News

January 1, 2017January 3, 2017

Many transgender persons subjugated in 2016

PESHAWAR: At least 90 cases of violence, assault and intimidation against transgender persons were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during 2016, says a non-governmental organisation. According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network working for the welfare of transgender persons, 21 of these cases were reported in Peshawar.

Members of the third sex community came under attack from the police, political parties and religious and militant groups. The police were involved in 14 incidents.

The KPCSN said in an act of violence, which took place in Gulbahar area of the provincial capital on Feb 24, 2016, around 30 people led by a local leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami, which is part of the ruling coalition in KP, attacked the house of transgender person Arzu. It said the police refused to register the case despite being showed a video footage of the incident.

The NGO also said on May 23, members of a local criminal gang shot injured TransAction Alliance’s board member and Peshawar coordinator Alisha in the limits of the Fakirabad police station.

It said Alisha, who sustained at least eight bullet injuries, was denied immediate treatment at the Lady Reading Hospital and thus, leading to her death a day later.

KPCSN coordinator Taimur Kamal said the organisation began working on the data of violence against transgender persons earlier in 2015 but the data collection formally began towards the middle of the year.

“For the first time, we have data for a complete year. It will help improve awareness of the rights of transgender persons,” he said.

Mr. Kamal said almost all victims of subjugation awaited justice.

“Unfortunately, not a single perpetrator of violence against transgender persons has been convicted so far,” he said.

The KPCSN coordinator said the police usually didn’t take such cases seriously and even they weren’t bothered about the directions of their top provincial boss in this respect.

“Most FIRs are so weak that it is very difficult to take the culprits to the task,” he said.

Mr. Kamal said the KP government was currently working on a policy to protect transgender persons.

He said the government should ensure the early approval of that policy by the provincial assembly to address the issues and challenges facing transgender community.

The KPCSN coordinator said the KP government had promised the establishment of a shelter home for transgender persons and that a vocational centre for the community should also be built in 2017.

He said the provincial government had allocated money for the purpose in the current fiscal and that money should be properly used.

When contacted, provincial coordinator with the National Council for Human Rights Rizwanullah Shah said improved reporting had brought the real situation of transgender persons to the fore.

He said previously, most of such cases went unheard and unreported as transgender persons were treated as untouchables in rural areas. The NCHR official said despite problems from own force, the provincial police chief was ensuring action in cases of violence against transgender persons and that the KP government was working on a transgender persons’ protection policy.

“All this suggests things are improving. Transgender persons are coming forward to report incidents of violence against them. Even if they do not go to the police against excesses, they take to the streets to draw the people’s attention to their plight. Such moves by them are a good sign” he said.

Dawn

January 1, 2017January 3, 2017

Case of abused maid reveals loopholes in govt’s child protection measures

By MALIK ASAD

ISLAMABAD: A recent case of abuse of a child domestic employee has revealed the cruel relationship between ‘masters and servants’ and the federal government’s cosmetic measures to protect children.

Instead of an independent entity to handle cases of violence against children, the federal government only has the Ministry of Human Rights’ toothless National Child Protection Centre (NCPC) to deal with such cases.

The centre has no accommodation for girls, and a little space in a hostel belonging to the special education ministry for boys. Victims cannot stay there for more than two or three days, a senior human rights ministry official told Dawn.

The official said female juvenile victims are kept at women crisis centres, which are not meant for them.

He said the ministry has proposed the establishment of a child protection centre with residential units for children, at a cost of Rs350 million, which is still pending with the concerned authorities.

Legislation for a powerful and effective commission for the protection of children is also pending with the legislature, he said.

This may be why the police took 24 hours to take the child into their custody after her abuse and torture, allegedly at the hands of her employer, came to light. Information about the alleged abuse of a child by a serving additional district and sessions judge and his wife spread on social media on Wednesday.

The 10 year old maid, Tayyaba, had been working in I-8/1, in the home of ADSJ Raja Khurram Ali Khan for a couple of years.

On Dec 28, someone from the neighbourhood called the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau’s (CPWB) office in Rawalpindi about Tayyaba’s mistreatment.

Since the bureau lacks the jurisdiction to take up complaints in the federal capital, they passed on the number for Yousaf Shah, the director of child protection at the human rights ministry.

However, it took over 24 hours to register the case with the Industrial Area police.

Tayyaba was missing for a day before she was produced by the police, at which point she exonerated the ADSJ and his wife from the torture charges.

Sources privy to the development claimed the family kept the child away from the police for a day, and instructed her not to accuse them before handing her over to the police.

The police and a medico-legal officer were initially of the view that Tayyaba fell down the stairs, but she later revealed to Assistant Commissioner Nisha Ishtiaq that she was beaten and detained in a storeroom by the ADSJ and his wife over a missing broom.

The matter was also reported by the media, and Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi ordered an inquiry.

Sources in the IHC told Dawn the inquiry officer, IHC registrar Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan, has completed the inquiry and submitted a report to Justice Kasi.

ADSJ Khan was previously suspended in 2013 for misuse of authority and faced an inquiry, before resuming office after around eight months. Sources said the IHC administration did not issue an order for the ADSJ to be suspended during this inquiry, as he was in 2013.

CPWB Chairperson Saba Sadiq has also taken notice of the incident, and directed the Rawalpindi district officer Ali Abid Naqvi to take up the matter with Islamabad’s child protection cell.

CPWB representatives wanted to meet the victim, but were not give access to her by the NCPC director.

According to Mr Naqvi, Ms Sadiq offered the child medical treatment, legal assistance and help with locating her parents.

When contacted, NCPC Director Yousaf Shah said the CPWB is a provincial body that has nothing to do with the case, but added that the bureau’s help would be sought to locate Tayyaba’s family.

He admitted that Tayyaba is staying at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Crisis Centre for Women due to a lack of proper accommodation for girls. He said the child will be handed over to her parents as soon as they are located.

While the NCPC is thinking of reaching her parents, the media may already have located Tayyaba’s father.

Mohammad Azam, a resident of the Jaranwala village, said he has no money to visit Islamabad to see his daughter, but called for justice for his child, who he said he left with the ADSJ when she was only eight years old.

Dawn

January 1, 2017January 3, 2017

Over 95pc women in 17 constituencies didn’t vote in 2013

By IFTIKHAR A. KHAN

ISLAMABAD: Over 95 per cent of registered women voters in at least 17 National Assembly constituencies did not cast their votes in the 2013 general elections.

A document prepared by the Election Commission of Pakistan, available with Dawn, reveals that turnout of women voters was less than one per cent in five of these constituencies.

According to disaggregated voters’ data, only one woman out of the total 138,910 registered in NA-33 (Upper Dir) had exercised her right to vote.

In the constituency adjacent to it, NA-34 (Lower Dir), women’s turnout was 0.11pc as only 231 out of 206,566 women voters had cast their ballots. In NA-37 (Kurram Agency), 459 out of 156,811 women voters had cast their votes or 0.29pc of the total registered women voters. However, the constituency registered an overall low turnout as 2,072 men out of 230,107 male registered voters had cast their ballots.

In NA-34, located in the troubled Bajaur Agency, women’s turnout was at 0.02pc and in NA-46, Khyber Agency, 0.2pc.

The trend wasn’t only limited to the tribal areas where certain cultural norms and the law and order situation could play a prohibitive role in this regard. Low women’s turnout was also reported in some constituencies of large cities in Punjab.

In NA-152 (Multan), the turnout of women voters was as low as 1.92pc as only 75,422 out of 3.9 million women voters had cast their ballots. The turnout for male voters in the constituency was 2.13pc.

The turnout of women voters was 2.13pc in NA-178 (Muzaffargarh), 2.24pc in the adjacent NA-177, 2.34pc in NA-175 (Rajanpur), 2.71pc in NA-174 (Rajanpur), and 2.82pc in NA-145 (Okara). The turnout recorded in NA-61 (Chakwal) was 4.42pc and 9.52pc in NA-64 (Sargodha).

The turnout of women voters in NA-271 (Kharan, Balochistan) was 3.51pc, but higher than the turnout for men, 3.04pc. In NA-31 (Shangla), 4.59pc of registered women voters had cast their ballots.

Interestingly enough, the turnout figures for women outstripped those of men in some constituencies, including NA-48 (Islamabad) where the women voters’ turnout was 61.75pc, compared to 61.01pc of male voters.

Similarly, in NA-51 (Rawalpindi) 53.24pc of registered women voters had cast their ballots compared to 52.31pc men. The difference in Attock’s NA-58 was even higher — the women’s turnout was 64.35pc while 61.81pc of registered male voters had cast their votes.

In NA-62 (Jhelum) 17.71pc women had voted, compared to 16.67pc men. Constituencies where the percentage of women voters was higher than that of male voters included NA-74 (Bhakkar), NA-93 (Toba Tek Singh), NA-101 (Gujranwala), NA-103 (Hafizabad), NA-111 and 112 (Sialkot), NA-115 and 116 (Narowal) and NA-180 (Muzaffargarh).

Areas with low female voters’ registration

The election commission has identified over 26,000 census blocks where the ratio of registered women voters is below 40pc of the total enrolled electorate.

The ECP’s gender affairs wing has shared the data with district election commissioners so that they could send it to district election commissioners. The district election commissioners will be asked to focus on the registration of women voters on priority and submit a progress report in four months.

According to another ECP document available with Dawn, 10,440 of these census blocks are in Punjab alone. Lahore tops in terms of the number of census blocks with low enrollment of women voters. The number of such blocks in provincial capital is 872, followed by Sialkot (755), Rahim Yar Khan (743), Sheikhupura (733), Narowal (620), Kasur (509), Bahawalnagar (501) and Jhang (490).

Sindh has 5,779 census blocks, including 1,575 in Karachi West, 629 in Karachi Central, 560 in Malir, 509 in Karachi East 401 in Korangi, 258 in Ghotki, 204 in Hyderabad, 131 in Khairpur and 117 in Kashmore.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the number of census blocks with less than 40pc registered women voters is 3,782, including 601 in Lower Dir, 600 in Kohistan, 469 in Upper Dir, 343 in Peshawar, 250 in Mardan, 147 in Mansehra, 138 in Chitral, 132 in Charsadda, 127 in Batagram and 103 in Bannu.

Balochistan has 3,539 such blocks, including 554 in Khuzdar, 315 in Kalat, 223 in Quetta, 208 in Dera Bugti, 196 in Killa Abdullah, 188 in Kohlu, 162 in Pishin, 143 in Awaran, 137 in Matung, 132 in Lehri, 125 in Loralai, 121 in Labella, 114 in Kachhi and 105 in Jhal Magsi.

In Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the number of census blocks is 2,410. They include 736 clocks in North Waziristan, 350 in Bajaur, 337 in Mohmand, 266 in South Waziristan, 240 in Khyber agency, 141 in FR Bannu and 121 in Kurram agency. The Federal Capital has 53 such constituencies.

Dawn