Punjab records largest number of offences against women

ISLAMABAD: Out of all the provinces, Punjab takes the lead in receiving most of the complaints,15,750, by women this year against harassment, violence, kidnapping and murder.

Whereas, Sindh becomes notorious for escalating honour killing cases of women with 111 such cases in 2021 and 88 in the current year till this date. However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa managed to provide 1,112 troubled women with their services during this year, reveals the data available to this correspondent.

The official data available to this correspondent shows that a total of 15,750 complaints were made by women in Punjab during the first eight months (January- August) of the current year. Most of the complaints made by women of Punjab during this time span were related to employment and health-related issues. Approximately 7,000 calls were made in this regard. Whereas, 5,914 complaints emerged involving harassment at workplaces, social media and violence including domestic violence that women in Punjab faced from January to August this year.

Over 380 women complained about kidnapping, abduction, rape and murders. Further, complaints pertaining to property matters including inheritance of property stood at 1,424. Complaints around family issues involving divorce, Khula, maintenance or custody of minors by women in Punjab came to around 1,050. The helpline number where women register their complaints in Punjab is 1043. The Punjab helpline received a total of 22,947 complaints in 2020 and 24,296 complaints in 2021 from women involving harassment, abduction, violence, domestic violence, family issues, rape, murders and employment.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a total of 1,112 services were provided between January to September 2022 to women who registered their complaints or needed guidance related to different issues by Bolo Helpline. A total of 249 women belonging to KPK availed legal aid and counselling from Bolo Helpline in these first seven months of the current year, according to the data made available to The News. While 121 women were given psychological counselling and 456 women were enlightened with awareness and education concerning their rights. Further, 286 women were given shelter or were protected by police for safety. In 2018, Bolo Helpline had received a total of 105 cases from KPK. In 2019, 89 cases were received while in 2020, 165 cases were handled related to gender-based violence including physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and social abuse. In 2021, from January to August, Bolo Helpline received 70 cases pertaining to issues faced by women in KPK mentioned above.

The National Women Helpline Centre (1099) received a total of 709 complaints regarding different issues. Out of these complaints, but only seven were about harassment and interestingly, all these seven were made in Punjab the data revealed. In the previous year, National Women Helpline (1099) had received a total of 1,890 complaints from women across Pakistan. From only Punjab, 1,367 complaints emerged last year by women in the National Helpline Centre (1099).

In Sindh, Sindh Suhai Organization works for women and girls who face abuse and harassment or become a victim of honour killing. In Ghotki Sindh, 12 women were murdered for honour during this year till now. In Kashmore 11 women are murdered, in Jaika Babad and Shakarpur seven women were murdered, while in Dosri Izla, 40 women were murdered for honour to this date. A total of 88 women are murdered this year for honour in only Sindh, reveals data obtained from Sindh Suhai Organization.

Compared with this, a total of 111 women were murdered for honour in Sindh in 2021. Women Protection Cell Sindh, in its annual report for 2021 revealed that 6,842 women were reported to be victims of violence, and 142 women were reported to have been raped or attempted to be raped. A total of 1,288 cases of violence against women emerged in the Karachi region in 2021. Whereas, 2,447 cases of violence against women were reported in the Hyderabad region, 427 cases in Larkana and 360 cases of violence in Mirpur Khas Division, 1,450 cases in Sukkur region.