PESHAWAR, Aug 16: Women’s poor social status and lack of job opportunities for them are the main reasons behind their exploitation and trafficking. But because cases involving trafficking of women are usually not reported, the number of victims remains unknown.

So said Zia Ahmad Awan, president of the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, at a seminar on “Alliance building to combat women’s trafficking in NWFP” which was organised here on Thursday by the Noor Education Trust in collaboration with the Action Aid, NWFP.

Mr Awan underlined the need for creating awareness among the masses about the issue. He said the negative impacts of the menace should be highlighted.

Akbar Ali Shah said an alliance to combat women’s trafficking had been launched in the Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi and Peshawar districts. District advisory groups had been constituted to create awareness among the people about the issue.

“We have been collecting data since the launch of the project to combat women’s trafficking in the four districts about six months ago, but it is a difficult job because people do not report such cases,” he said.

Members of the advisory group from the four districts told the seminar that the problem mostly existed in the rural areas where people often sold their young daughters to old men in the garb of marriage.

The victims — because of their young ages, lack of awareness and poor socio-economic conditions — were unable to narrate their ordeals to police, Mr Awan said. And those who did approach the police to file a complaint were often turned away.

He said that, according to data collated from newspapers this year, 568 women went missing and 1,059 cases of kidnapping were reported in the country. It was likely that these women were trafficked to other cities.