2023 – Pakistan Gender News

December 30, 2023

Militants set Bannu girls school on fire

LAKKI MARWAT: Suspected militants torched a government higher secondary school for girls in Kotka Mambati Barakzai area of Bannu on Thursday night.

A police official said the school was located in Miryan tehsil. He added the attackers set the science lab and equipment dumped there on fire.

The official said the laboratory and staffroom along with furniture and other objects were destroyed. He added the militants also took away the solar power system and other goods with them, leaving behind a note affixed to the school gate, warning of dire consequences if it was opened.

Schools in the area are closed for winter vacation.

It is the first school having been set ablaze in the district since the surge in militant attacks when a ceasefire between the government and outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended last year.

Following the incident, the police reached the school and collected evidence from the site, the official said, adding investigations were underway to trace the attackers.

Source: Dawn

December 30, 2023

Transforming education system to mitigate gender based violence stressed

Islamabad : In response to the issues of Gender-Based Violence and gender disparity in education, Rozan in collaboration with the Elementary and Secondary Education Department, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and SPO, launched a comprehensive project titled ‘Gender Mainstreaming and GBV for human capital investment project (KP-HCIP)’ with the aims of mitigating GBV and violence against children in 1,000 schools in 13 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A seminar on ”Transforming Education, Emerging Issues of Gender-Based Violence and Child Protection” was held here Friday to create a safe learning environment for children and to reach 1000 schools, conducting comprehensive training sessions with, school teachers, representatives of Parent Teacher Councils (PTCs), Village Network Forums (VNFs), and Village Education Committees (VECs).

The event was attended by representatives from different Government departments, civil society, local community, school management and students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad.

These sessions will mainly focus on addressing issues of Gender Based Violence, Violence Against Children, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse with sensitivity and efficiency.

The training will empower the 1000 GBV Focal Persons to effectively address GBV, VAC, SH and SEA, ensuring the implementation of the code of conduct, Grievance and Referral Mechanism.

Chief Guest of the event, Nilofar Bakhtiar Chairperson National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) while addressing the seminar said, “Let’s begin by recognizing the context we are addressing the widespread gender disparities and the issues of gender-based violence and child protection.

Source: The News

December 30, 2023

Woman killed for rejecting marriage proposal

HYDERABAD: Police on Friday arrested the main accused wanted for the murder of a young woman.

The suspect, Akbar Soomro, had sent a marriage proposal of his brother for Muhammad Qasim Soomro’s daughter Iqra Soomro aged 22. However, the deceased rejected the marriage proposal. Akbar and Iqra were cousins.

On Wednesday, Akbar barged into Qasim’s house and started beating Iqra. He then took out a pistol and shot her. Iqra could not survive when her father tried to take her to the hospital.

Police handed over the body to the relatives after legal action, while the accused escaped.

Qasim Soomro had filed a case at the Pinyari police station nominating Akbar as the murderer of Iqra.

According to police, the accused has been arrested with murder weapon and further investigation is underway. As per police, Akbar had opened fire and killed Iqra at her home on the Soomro Street of Shah Latif Colony within the limits of Pinyari police station.

After the incident, tension spread in the area and a large number of angry people of Soomro community gathered. Akbar had painted the incident as Karo-Kari alleging that Iqra had illicit relations with a man named Sarwar in her locality. Sarwar had to take refuge in the house of Magsi community fearing for his life as Soomro men raced after him with guns and axes. DSP Pinyari and SHO Pinyari Inspector Mumtaz Brohi had come with a heavy contingent of police to move the body to the Civil Hospital with the help of Edhi volunteers.

Source: The Express Tribune

December 30, 2023

Disturbing surge in domestic violence

The alarming situation in relation to the state of domestic violence prevailing in the country is once again in the news following a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), titled Gendered Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Central and West Asia, which termed the grievous social ill to be emerging as a silent pandemic in our society, and proving to be a serious menace to our social fabric.

Over the last few years, we have seen that the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdowns imposed in countries all over the world had an outsized adverse impact on the safety, health and socioeconomic outcomes for women. The case of Pakistani women is no different as highlighted by the ADB report where the pandemic only served to magnify the various tribulations that women in the country already faced.

The ADB report has revealed some distressing statistics from a survey carried out in Punjab and Sindh, which reported an increase in the incidence of threats of physical violence by 40 percent and that of physical assault from spouses by 46 percent. In addition, 14 percent of the surveyed women knew someone in their community who was threatened with physical harm by her husband, while 19 percent knew someone who was physically assaulted by her husband.

It is important to highlight how our societal and cultural make-up, which often views women through a highly misogynistic and regressive lens, ends up contributing to a situation where women routinely become victim of violence within their homes. Too many in the country may not even view domestic violence as a problem, which also means that victims may not be aware of their rights and may even see themselves to be at fault.

These regressive cultural norms and patriarchal attitudes contribute to an environment where women face highly unequal treatment, which in turn end up normalising or excusing violent behaviour, making it challenging for victims to seek help or escape abusive situations.

These societal attitudes are not confined to any one socioeconomic strata either as we regularly come across reports of women belonging to even privileged, educated backgrounds becoming prey to domestic violence, and even losing their lives.

In addition, women’s lack of economic independence also ends up contributing to this state of affairs as their financial dependence on their husbands makes it difficult for them to leave abusive relationships. Moreover, there is a certain stigma involved in reporting domestic violence as well as a lack of access to resources to file complaints – whether it is access to police, finances or to legal remedy.

In recent years, while all provinces as well as the federal government have enacted laws addressing domestic violence, the impact of these legislations has not been as far-reaching as hoped. The role of our legislators here leaves a lot to be desired. The passage of laws on domestic violence has often been accompanied by backlash from conservative quarters, and our legislators have been all too ready to acquiesce to the pressure imposed by these elements. There have been the inevitable referrals of some of these laws to the Council of Islamic Ideology, a body not exactly known for its progressive views on gender-related issues, and which back in 2016, went as far as to propose a bill that allowed a husband to “lightly” beat his wife “if needed”.

If we want to seriously address this perilous social ill that puts lives at risk, we need to firstly focus on challenging and changing deep-rooted societal and cultural beliefs. There is a need to promote gender equality and women’s financial independence and through legislative reforms that are aimed at fostering a more supportive and protective environment for women in Pakistan.

Source: Business Recorder

December 29, 2023

Project launched to curb violence against school children

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Department (ESED) in collaboration with non-government organisations on Thursday launched a project to mitigate gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against children in 1,000 schools in 13 districts of the province.

Gender Mainstreaming and GBV for Human Capital Investment Project (KP-HCIP) was launched with the assistance of Rozan and Strengthening Participatory Organisation at a seminar, according to a statement issued here.

On the occasion, Shazia Ata, deputy secretary ESED, said the objective of the project was to create a safe learning environment for children. “The aim of the project is to reach 1,000 schools, conducting comprehensive training sessions with schoolteachers, representatives of parent-teacher councils, village network forums and village education committees.

“These sessions will focus on addressing issues of gender-based violence, violence against children, sexual harassment and sexual exploitation and abuse with sensitivity and efficiency. The training will empower 1,000 focal persons to effectively address these issues, ensuring the implementation of the code of conduct and grievance and referral mechanics,” she explained.

Shazia Ata said additionally, interactive sessions with children from each of these schools would also be conducted. “In total 10,000 to 15,000 children and school staff, including teachers, administrators, and community representatives from each school, will gain awareness of these policies and actively contribute to their implementation.”

Fouzia Yasmin, deputy director Rozan, said the NGO was a non-profit organisation focused on mental and emotional health, and committed to working for a violence-free society while employing strategies like awareness raising, research, counseling, advocacy, training and capacity building.

Nilofar Bakhtiar, chairperson National Commission on Status of Women, said every third women faced violence and a child was abused every two hours in Pakistan. She said this was also a fact that reported cases were just a tip of the ice berg. “The project launched today is a direct response to these challenges.”

She said collaboration between the governments, education department, CSOs the World Bank signalled a commitment to a multi-faceted approach to not only address gender disparities and GBV, but also to integrate solutions within educational institutions, aiming to mitigate issues of violence against children and gender mainstreaming in schools,” she said.

Source: Dawn