Nearly 1,200 women killed in Pakistan in 2010: Report

ISLAMABAD - Of the 1,195 women murdered in Pakistan this year, 98 were killed after being raped, says a report by the country’s first helpline for women and children.

The Madadgaar helpline released a report in Karachi Thursday on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Geo News reported Friday.

The report was compiled from news reports published in the mainstream Pakistani media.

The increasing number of incidents of violence against women is a “blemish on the face of our society and seriously hamper the efforts for empowerment of women and gender equality in Pakistan”, said Madadgaar’s project coordinator and president of the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA), Zia Ahmed Awan.

He said it was “sad” that reports of violence against women have come from all parts of the country. This should be a wake-up call for the government.

The report further said that 321 were raped and 194 gang raped in Pakistan in 2010. a total of 1,091 were tortured, 126 were burnt, 383 were kidnapped, 316 were tortured by police and 491 committed suicide.

A total of 4,870 cases of violence against women were registered by police, while the total number of cases reported since the year 2000 came up to 79,909.

Awan said over 2,400 cases were reported from Punjab, 1,070 from Sindh, 998 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhuwa and 313 from Balochistan. The number of cases were less in Khyber-Pakhtunkhuwa and Balochistan provinces because of a strong tribal culture and lack of access to the media.

The UN General Assembly has designated Nov 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.