July 25, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14,1423

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MULTAN, July 24: Some 82 women were murdered and 150 criminally assaulted in southern Punjab during the first half of the current year.

In a report, the Multan Task Force of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) revealed shocking details of violence against women in this part of the province.

Task force coordinator advocate Rashid Rehman said the report did not depict the actual picture of violence against women. “A large number of the crimes against women, specially rape, are not reported because even the victim’s family want to hush up the matter.”

The data are based on surveys by rights activists, newspaper reports and police record.

Of the 82 women murdered, 56 were married and 26 unmarried. Of the 40 women who lost their lives in the name of ‘honour,’ 28 were married and 12 unmarried.

Four of the women killed for honour were murdered by their fathers, 15 by brothers, 10 by husbands, 2 by sons and remaining 9 by other relatives.

The most ironical aspect is that only 15 accused could be arrested in the 40 case of ‘honour killing’ in south Punjab.

Suspicion of having illicit relations proved the most fatal cause as 35 women succumbed to this doubt of their male relatives.

Among other causes, the main was marriage against the wish of their parents.

Four women were deprived of the right to live for property disputes, two for being issue less, 22 over matrimonial issues, 3 for resisting criminal assault and one for refusing prostitution.

Among the women subjected to criminal assault, 89 were victimized by neighbours, 21 by local landlords, 15 by close relatives, 3 by fathers and 22 by unidentified men.

Of the 150 reported incidents of rape, cases were registered in 141 while only 13 accused could be arrested.

The report also expressed concern over the increasing incidents of physical violence against women which included keeping in illegal confinement, sexual torture, forced abortion and burning.

It criticized the police for being lenient towards the registration of abduction cases in matters in which the girls married at their will. The police role was also deplored for being insensitive towards the violence against women.

Comprising former administrative divisions of Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan, the southern part of the Punjab is the agricultural heartland of the country. This distinctive feature has its darker side as well in the form of strong feudal ‘mindset’ prevalent in length and breadth of the area.

Sociologists say the feudal mindset has nothing to do with the size of landholdings as it reflects the general character of the people who hold any kind of authority in the rural areas.

Women are the worst-hit segment of the rural society in the presence of strong feudal values, based on class and gender biases.