Violence against women and girls—including rape, acid attacks, domestic violence, denial of education, workplace harassment, and forced child marriages—remains a serious issue in Pakistan. Human rights defenders estimate that around 1,000 women are murdered each year in so-called “honour killings.” UNICEF estimates that 18.9 million girls in Pakistan are married before the age of 18, with 4.8 million married before the age of 15.
Many of these girls are forced into dangerous, closely spaced pregnancies. Women from religious minority communities are especially vulnerable to forced marriages, with little government intervention to prevent early and forced marriages.
There was national outrage when a woman was raped at gunpoint in an Islamabad park on 2 February. Two weeks later, police claimed that both alleged perpetrators were killed in a gunfight while being arrested.
In Punjab alone, 10,365 cases of violence against women were reported to the police in the first four months of 2023, according to a local NGO. The actual number is likely much higher due to barriers to reporting, harmful social norms, and ineffective police responses. Pakistan’s conviction rate for rape remains under 3%.
MAHOO LAL BAKSH,
Turbat.