Pakistan’s Rise In Offences Against Women

02-03-2022

Kirsten O’Connell

Pakistan and Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence

Pakistan’s offences against women are rising, with around 34,000 women registering complaints in the last year. In Punjab, the province received the most complaints concerning rape. In Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces the most complaints concerned honour killings (Abbasi, 2022). 

Punjab province had the highest number of complaints made by women. It contributed up to 71 per cent of the total number of complaints that authorities received across Pakistan. In Sindh province, a total number of 6, 842 complaints were made to the Women Protection Cell, whereas 2,766 complaints were made by women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) (Abbasi, 2022). 

There was a total of 540 complaints made by women regarding criminal offences such as rape, murder and kidnapping. There were also 3, 481 complaints regarding domestic violence and 3, 571 complaints regarding harassment. Additionally, there were 1, 790 complaints regarding family issues and 12, 975 made by women regarding their education and health (Abbasi, 2022). 

Artzal Shigri, a former Inspector General for Police in Sindh explained that the reason for the escalation of offences against women is due to the lack of education and awareness among the women, and even went on to say that the women are asserting their rights and challenging the male dominance, and this is the cause for the spike in offences (Abbasi, 2022). 

Sources and further reading: Abbasi, K. A. (2022, March 1). Pakistan witnessed surge in offences against women last year. The News. Retrieved March 2, 2022, from https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/937696-pakistan-witnessed-surge-in-offences-against-women-last-year