GILGIT: Human rights bodies and activists have expressed concerns over the non-implementation of laws concerning women’s rights in Gilgit Baltistan.
They said that several laws to protect women’s rights were pending in the GB Assembly, while the laws already in place were not being enforced.
These concerns were expressed during a dialogue on “Accelerating Implementation of Pro-Women Laws in Gilgit Baltistan” organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in Gilgit to commemorate International Women’s Day.
The event brought together students, journalists, lawyers, civil society organisations, lawmakers, human rights defenders and government officials to discuss challenges hindering the implementation of pro-women laws in GB, according to a press release issued after it.
The discussion highlighted cultural behaviours, social attitudes, institutional and capacity gaps and lack of political will as major barriers, the statement added.
The speakers regretted that in the absence of pro-women laws, the rights of women were not protected in GB.
Yasmin Karim, a woman activist told Dawn that GB women faced a number of gender issues. She regretted that successive governments in GB failed to take serious steps to ensure women’s rights available to them in other parts of the country.
She said that family courts had not been established in GB to give women access to justice on domestic issues and family matters.
According to her, the draft of a law to stop early marriages has been pending since 2017. Similarly, the bill on the prohibition of domestic violence and the Women Protection Bill were pending in the assembly. She said there were no shelter homes or separate jails for women in GB.
Conditions is Diamer
According to the National Commission on the Status of Women, the Diamer district of GB had the highest rate of early marriages across Pakistan.
Shereen Karim, a journalist, said women were deprived of their rights in many areas of GB. She said domestic violence and workplace harassment cases usually go unreported in GB.
She claimed girls’ education in the Diamer district was still banned. Women in Diamer also had no right to vote, she added.
“Basic health and education rights of women are not protected in remote areas,” she said.
The representation of women in the GB Assembly and other forums was also merely symbolic, as women elected on reserved seats were decided by men, she claimed.
She claimed that workplace harassment cases in GB were not being registered.
Former GB Assembly member Amina Ansari, who was the only female candidate in GB to contest the region’s general elections, told Dawn that she had contested three elections for GB assembly from Ghanche district.
The activists lamented the cases of honour killing, which usually go unreported in the region.
Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025
