Pakistan continues to prove itself to be unsafe for women. Recent incidents, as per a new report by the National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR), and statistics on rape in the country, are enough to prove that. The last month’s news which should shake the core of a human is that a 14-year-old girl from Azad Kashmir was found being raped by her own father and brother for several months. Once her mother took her to a doctor due to stomachache, she found that her daughter is pregnant and the baby’s DNA matched her brother.
As per the data of October 2022, around 21,900 women were reported to have been raped in Pakistan between 2017 and 2021. “Around 350 cases were reports in Punjab from May 2022 to August 2022,” the same report stated. Meanwhile, the report by NCHR revealed that around 63,000 cases of domestic violence were reported in Pakistan in last three years. The report further added that 80% of these cases were related to domestic violence, while some 47% of women experienced the domestic rape and sexual abuse. The report warned that these numbers are only taken from reported cases and actual number could be much higher because a large number of people tend to not report such incidents over “family name” and “family honour.”
PPP Senator Shery Rehman said: “The statistics are staggering — 90 per cent of women face some form of domestic violence in their lifetime, yet 50 per cent do not report it, and only 0.4 per cent of them go to courts.”
The NCHR Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha said that the commission has taken notice of rising domestic violence cases in the country. “We have launched a helpline (1413) in Punjab, while there is redressal complaint mechanism and continuously follow up on rules in Sindh and Balochistan,” she said. Further sharing the data, Agha said that 90 percent of women in Pakistan face domestic violence during COVID-19 lockdown, and Aurat Foundation, SSDO and NADRA data show there were 10,000 to 11,000 reported cases of violence.
If this data is not enough to open the eyes, then there is a continues and ongoing menace of forced conversion of Hindu girls, especially in Sindh. In a recent incident earlier this month, another Hindu girl Saman Lohana was kidnapped and converted to Islam, and the abductor, Sajad Mahar, proudly confessed. “If you convert girls to Islam, you will be rewarded,” he said. Meanwhile, her brother begged the clerics of the area to return his sister but no avail. And shockingly no one is batting an eye on it, not that is first time, and Sindh is ruled by Pakistan’s only “liberal and leftist” party PPP but there has been a complete silence by its entire leadership.
Speaking to the issue of forced conversions, a Christian MNA, Sajjad Gill said that children of minorities are raised as per their religion and how is it possible that they are converted to Islam within two days although they don’t know how to read Quran or even the First Kalma. “I beg you to end this injustice, before 18 years one cannot even get CNIC, how can they be married,” he added.
The issues of domestic violence, rape and forced conversions are not new and they seemed to increase with every day but apparently it is not a concern for any political party because there are laws in writing but no one has the power to stop them because the roots of these menaces are found in our so-called family values, culture and self-styled religious teachings.
Pakistan continues to prove itself to be unsafe for women. Recent incidents, as per a new report by National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR), and statistics on rape in the country, are enough to prove that. The last month’s news which should shake the core of a human is that a 14-year-old girl from Azad Kashmir was found being raped by her own father and brother for several months. Once her mother took her to a doctor due to stomachache, she found that her daughter is pregnant and the baby’s DNA matched her brother.
As per the data of October 2022, around 21,900 women were reported to have been raped in Pakistan between 2017 and 2021. “Around 350 cases were reports in Punjab from May 2022 to August 2022,” the same report stated. Meanwhile, the report by NCHR revealed that around 63,000 cases of domestic violence were reported in Pakistan in last three years. The report further added that 80% of these cases were related to domestic violence, while some 47% of women experienced the domestic rape and sexual abuse. The report warned that these numbers are only taken from reported cases and actual number could be much higher because a large number of people tend to not report such incidents over “family name” and “family honour.”
PPP Senator Shery Rehman said: “The statistics are staggering — 90 per cent of women face some form of domestic violence in their lifetime, yet 50 per cent do not report it, and only 0.4 per cent of them go to courts.”
The NCHR Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha said that the commission has taken notice of rising domestic violence cases in the country. “We have launched a helpline (1413) in Punjab, while there is redressal complaint mechanism and continuously follow up on rules in Sindh and Balochistan,” she said. Further sharing the data, Agha said that 90 percent of women in Pakistan face domestic violence during COVID-19 lockdown, and Aurat Foundation, SSDO and NADRA data show there were 10,000 to 11,000 reported cases of violence.
If this data is not enough to open the eyes, then there is a continues and ongoing menace of forced conversion of Hindu girls, especially in Sindh. In a recent incident earlier this month, another Hindu girl Saman Lohana was kidnapped and converted to Islam, and the abductor, Sajad Mahar, proudly confessed. “If you convert girls to Islam, you will be rewarded,” he said. Meanwhile, her brother begged the clerics of the area to return his sister but no avail. And shockingly no one is batting an eye on it, not that is first time, and Sindh is ruled by Pakistan’s only “liberal and leftist” party PPP but there has been a complete silence by its entire leadership.
Speaking to the issue of forced conversions, a Christian MNA, Sajjad Gill said that children of minorities are raised as per their religion and how is it possible that they are converted to Islam within two days although they don’t know how to read Quran or even the First Kalma. “I beg you to end this injustice, before 18 years one cannot even get CNIC, how can they be married,” he added.
The issues of domestic violence, rape and forced conversions are not new and they seemed to increase with every day but apparently it is not a concern for any political party because there are laws in writing but no one has the power to stop them because the roots of these menaces are found in our so-called family values, culture and self-styled religious teachings.
– https://thepakistandaily.com/
