Charter of demands to ensure protection of women

LAHORE: A large number of women from a cross section of the society have taken note of rising incidents of violence against women in Pakistan, particularly the incident of gang-rape of a woman on motorway despite having called the police at least twice after her fuel ran out.

The fact that a woman in Pakistan is not safe (especially after alerting law-enforcement agencies) in a public space is not only unacceptable but is also a sickening reflection of where the society stands today, they have noted in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Around this time, news from Karachi surfaced that a young woman in Karachi was abducted in a double cabin vehicle outside a mall in Clifton by two men who took her to an apartment where they, along with a third man, raped her. The woman was dropped back to the site of her kidnapping the next morning. Most women who are subjected to violence do not report it. The conviction rate in rape and sexual assault cases is under 3pc.

This group of women has issued the following charter of demands. The signatories of this charter hail from all backgrounds.

1. Implement Article 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 2. Expedite and increase recruitment of female police officers and immediately establish additional women police stations. Where women police stations cannot be immediately established, set up a woman-staffed unit at each police station nationwide There were other demands also.