Violence Women Pakistan

emphasis Women PakistanMedia briefing Violence against women in PakistanSubject women-rights Media briefing Violence against women in Pakistan Date Tue, 16 Apr 2002 181811 +0100 * News Release Issued by the outside(a) Secretariat of Amnesty foreign *16 April 2002ASA 33/010/200262/02The governing body of Pakistan vigorously condemns the practice ofso-c each(prenominal)ed nonice crop upings. Such acts do not find a place in ourreligion or law. cleaning in the name of honour is murder andwill be inured as such. General Pervez Musharraf, April 2000IntroductionWomen in Pakistan ar severely deprived and discriminatedagainst. Violence against women in the national and club as wellas in the irons of law enforcement strikeicials is on the rise.The Hu domain Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) shew that in 2000a wo serviceman beings was raped e actually two hours, and that hundreds were victimsof honour killings, domestic vehemence, hackings and murder. era a few substanti ative changes direct snapn place over thelast couple of years, the government is still jockstraplessness to protectwomen from these maltreatments.Many cases receive media at decenniumtion and the involvement of kind-hearted rights organizations, except they are quickly forgotten.Other women suffer abuses in silence for years, break violentdeaths and get buried in unmarked graves.Womens sensitiveness of their rights has increase thanks tothe work of Pakistani womens rights groups. However most womenremain beastly of even their most basic rights. A newspapersurvey in 2000 physical compositioned that almost 90% of women did not realisethat they had any rights at all.In its fifth account on women in Pakistan, AmnestyInternational summarizes the current governments commitments touphold womens rights, describes cases of abuses in thecommunity, in the home and in custody and the failure of the execrable justice system. The report similarly sets outrecommendations.Family and co mmunityDomestic rage, which includes physical abuse, rape, acidthrowing, burning and killing, is widespread in Pakistan. fewwomen would complain under legal provisions relating to physicalinjury. For those who do take the step, jurisprudence and the judiciaryusually dismiss their complaints and send them back to their ignominious husbands.Very poor women, women from religious minorities andwomen bonded labourers are particularly vulnerable to violence inthe community and home.According to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences,over 90% of marry women report being kicked, slapped, beaten or innerly step when husbands were dissatisfied by their cookingor cleaning, or when the women had failed to bear a child orhad given birth to a girl kind of of a boy. Another organizationstated that one cleaning woman is murder and one woman is kidnapped inPakistan every day.? The case of ShukriaOn 22 October 2001, Sharif in village Goharpur, Sheikhupuradistrict, Punjab province, tied his unify woman Shukrias wrists andankles with rope, poured kerosene over her and with the help ofhis mother and sister set her on good time. The couple had beenmarried for ten years. As they remained childless, Sharif wantedto marry another woman simply Shukria did not agree to this.Neighbours tried to rescue Shukria but she died shortlyafterwards in hospital.Women continue to die painful deaths in so-called stoveburn accidents in the kitchen. The HRCP estimates that less that20% of deaths lead to arrests and most suspects are released inwardly days.Acid-throwing is on the increase. Acid burns do notusually kill but result in hideous disfiguration and suffering,destruction of self-esteem, and close in women to the home. Thegovernment has done little to restrict the trade of acid or topunish those who use it to injure women.Forced marriage of young girls continues to be reporteddespite a legal minimum age of 16. While thrall is illegal inPakistan, girls and women continue to be tr aded to settle debtsor conflicts. In Sukkur in 2000, a six-year-old girl was marriedto a 60-year-old man when her family was unable to repay a debt.According to newspaper reports the marriage was accomplish andthe little girl screamed loudly for hours after the rape.A form of laboured marriage specific to the interior ofSindh province is the marriage of girls and women to theQuran. This keeps the womans share of property in the familyas she will have no children to pass it on to. Human rightsorganizations report that there are currently over 5000 womenmarried to the Quran in Sindh.Pakistan is both a country of origin and a transitcountry for the trafficking of women for domestic labour, forcedmarriage and prostitution. This form of slavery is organized bycrime networks that span South Asia.The open sale of girls and women in markets is reportedin underdeveloped areas such as move of Balochistan.Some women, both local and trafficked, are killed if theyrefuse to earn coin in pros titution. Some are forced intoprostitution by their husbands. diary keeper Sufi Mohammad Khanfrom Badin, Sindh, was killed on 2 May 2001 after reportageextensively some trafficking in drugs and women in theTharparkar area of Sindh which happened with the connivance of unbiassed authorities. He reported that some 70 women have beenkidnapped in Sindh and Punjab, detained by the Arbab feudalfamily and forced into prostitution. The journalist was bribedand threatened by members of the family. esteem killingsHonour killings are carried out by men who assume that theirwives, daughters or sisters have in some way contravened normsrelating to the behaviour of women which reflect on and revile amans honour. Often the grounds for such assumptions can bevery flimsy and amount to nothing more than a suspicion about awomans fidelity. Men are also know to have mat shamed iftheir women seek divorce or become the victims of rape.The exact government issue of honour killings is impossible toasce rtain as many go unreported. Media and human rightsorganizations estimate that three women are murdered each day.In 2000, the HRCP enter over 1000 honour killings in Punjabalone. Prosecution of honour killings is at large(p) and only a fewmen have been convicted.In the higher(prenominal) levels of government and the judiciary,honour killings are recognised as a dear problem. Thegovernment of Pakistan has condemned honour killings as murderand a seminar in Karachi in April 2001 looked at problems ofredress in honour crime cases. However no action has followedand honour killings continue to be reported daily. In declination 2000, three brothers overpowered theirsister-in-law, Anila, sprinkled kerosene on her clothes and sether on fire in a village near Sukkur when they suspected her ofinfidelity. Her father reclaimed her and took her to hospitalwhere, with 85% burns, she died. In early 2001, Mir Afzal cut off the scent of his wife AmrozKhatoon in Karachi as he suspected her of infidelity. He soattempted to kill her but neighbours alerted by the noiseinterceded. Police arrested the man and his accomplices but AmrozKhatoon has received threats to her life if she pursues hercomplaint. In March 2001, a 60-year-old widow, Hidayat Khatoon, and55-year-old Baksh Ali were killed by the widows son in Chandanvillage, district Sukkur. When the son surrendered to police, hesaid that he had been teased by villagers over his mothersalleged affair and had therefore killed both. In July 2001, 16-year-old Shoukat Labano in Sukkur district,shot dead his mother Rahima (33) when he suspected her of anaffair.increasingly honour killings involve not only the womanbut some(prenominal) other family members. In November 2000, MohammedUmar Magsi killed his 11-year-old daughter with an axe because hesuspected her of having an affair. When his wife and youngerdaughter tried to intervene, he killed them as well. On 8 January2001, Riaz Ahmed axed to death his wife, three daughters an d twosons, because he suspected his wife of adultery. On 16 January2002, Jamal threw hand grenades into his father-in-laws housewhen his wife refused to return to him, killing atomic number 23 of herrelatives and injuring eight.The HRCP has observed that increasingly young boys areforced to attack or kill sisters who are opposed to a forcedmarriage. Afterwards the boys are formally pardoned by theirfathers which allows them to go free.The emergence of fake honour killings is a worrying newtrend. There is a pattern of men incriminate their wives of beingdishonourable with wealthy men purely for financial gain. Thewife is declared kari (black woman, one who brings shame) andis killed. The suspected man is make to pay off the husband andhe is pardoned.In a few cases, women have begun to differ violence inthe name of honour. A young woman break loose death when shefought her husband. The local landlord held a jirga (tribalcouncil) which assureed her innocence and asked the husband to rationalise and take her back.Women who marry men of their own choice are oft seen todamage their familys honour they are oftentimes detained bytheir parents, forcibly married to someone else, threatened,humiliated, assaulted or killed. If a couple marry in tourist courtagainst the will of their parents, and the parents challenge theunion, they can be charged with illicit sexual relations underthe Zina Ordinance (which prohibits sex outside marriage).Newly-weds are hash out to have their marriage confirmed by amagistrate and seek furnish with friends for some time. In manycases families accept the fact of marriage but sometimes theirsense of shame is not appeased. Robina and Khushi Mohammad werekilled in May 2000 by Robinas uncle and two brothers over twoyears after their wedding they had been in hiding but hadfinally returned to the husbands home.Custodial violencePhysical abuse of women in custody continues to be rife inPakistan. Despite promises of police reform, police continue touse torture to intimidate, harass and humiliate detainees to back off money or information. Women are subjected togender-specific abuses including sexual harassment, publicundressing and parading, and rape. Conditions of detention forwomen are also of grave concern.State inactionIn April 2000, President Musharraf made a range of commitments toprotect womens rights. Since then, there have been manypositive signals and pronouncements but little effective change.The authorities are often aware of a series of abuses anddo not intervene. Some officials prevent women from accessingthe criminal justice system and seeking redress.Some court judgments over the ancient year-and-a-half haveadequately protected womens rights while others have treatedwomen as a mans property. This inconsistency indicates that thelaw is not being equally utilise and the gender bias ofindividual judges is determining whether a woman is protected ornot.Police confronted with complaints of domestic viol enceare known to refuse to register the complaint, to humiliate thevictim or to have apprised the battered woman to return home. Eventhe staff of state womens shelters frequently advise women toaccept reconciliation and return home.Conviction rates for rape are very low. Police rarelyrespond adequately as they side with local people with influencewho are involved in the crime. Women frequently dont seekredress out of shame but also because of the possibility of beingaccused of Zina if they cannot establish absence of consent.RecommendationsAmnesty Internationals report makes recommendations which arewell within the powers of the Government of Pakistan to implementand do not require a huge investment of resources. They dorequire governmental will and the determination that violenceagainst women is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue.However, underlying the abuses suffered by women is adiscrimination perpetuated by society as a whole. In thisregard, everyone has a role to play ?government, politicalparties, religious groups, all elements of civilised society andindividuals. Everyone has a responsibility to commit themselvesto the equality of all human beings, irrespective of gender.The recommendations include The government should clearly and publicly condemn all acts ofviolence against women. It should develop policies anddisseminate materials to promote womens safety in the home andcommunity and in detention. The government should prohibit all acts of violence againstwomen and establish legal protection. It should review existinglaws, including the Zina law and the qisas and diyat law. Investigate all allegations of violence against women andprosecute and punish those found to be responsible.For a copy of the report please visit Reportwww.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/asa330062002