A total of 7,733 incidents of violence against women were reported in 2008 with the highest number of such cases 4360 reported in Punjab. Of the total 1385 cases were reported in Sindh, 1013 in NWFP, 763 in Balochistan and 212 in Islamabad.
Among these cases, 73.53 per cent were registered with police, while 19.09 per cent were not registered and there is no clue regarding the status of remaining 7.38 percent of the cases. This was revealed by Shazia Perveen of Aurat Foundation at a press conference held after the launching ceremony of a detailed report on the "Situation of Violence against Women in Pakistan" here on Tuesday. The report is a compilation of statistics on incidents of violence under the foundation's national programme 'Policy and Data Monitoring on Violence against Women.'
She said that the report aimed at identifying the cases of violence and using the statistics as an advocacy tool to create a more informed and supportive environment for women and mobilise the social pressure against such acts. "In the long run, this data would help federal and provincial governments, political parties and legislatures in developing policy framework and institutional mechanisms for ending violence against women," she said.
Shazia said that the percentage of abduction cases was the highest ie 22.79 per cent (1762) of the total cases followed by murder of women (1516), hurt and body injury (844), suicide (579) and honour killing (472). Mentioning some other statistics, she said that 439 cases of rape and 307 cases of gang rape were reported last year whereas 25 incidents of Vanni / customary practices also made headlines in the media in the span of 12 months.
Terming these statistics as a tip of the iceberg, Rabia Hadi of Aurat Foundation said that a large number of violence cases were not reported in the media. "The report does not mention cases of sexual harassment largely prevalent in the society only because women hesitate in reporting such cases," she pointed out.
Urging co-operation among civil society, media and the government, Aliya Mirza said that only collaborative measures could lead to a supportive environment for women. She demanded of the government to take appropriate action against the culprits, and play its part in reducing such inhuman practices in the country. She urged media to create awareness among the masses about the rights and protection of women.
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