HYDERABAD: Women rights activists staged a protest sit-in outside the local press club here on Sunday organised by the Women Action Forum (WAF) to condemn increasing incidents of torture of women and their killing.

Writers, intellectuals and WAF leaders were among the speakers who demanded that a police helpline should be established for those women who were victims of torture. The helpline should be managed by policewomen and safe houses be established at the district level to shelter women in distress.

The protest was a symbolic ‘condolence gathering’ for the murdered women.

They demanded honour-killing cases should be lodged on behalf of the state so that those were not made compoundable. They said timeline should be fixed for investigation of such cases to avoid unnecessary delays.

Women doctors should be appointed and trained as medico legal officers (MLOs) so that they wrote strong autopsy reports, said the speakers, including Jami Chandio, Dr Arfana Mallah, Amar Sindhu, Taj Joyo, Haseen Musarrat, Dr Bakhtawar Jam, Naseem Jalbani, Fatima Majeed and others.

Amar Sindhu said the women of Sindhu used to be known as mothers of braves, but today they were known as mothers of murdered daughters. In fact, a woman’s house had become unsafe and she was murdered there, she added.

When a man tortured his wife, he was not termed mentally sick, but when he murdered her, attempts were made to declare him mentally insane to save him from punishment for the murder, she said.

She said that was a movement for women’s protection and would not let a woman’s home become a place of her killing.

Arfana Mallah said that everyday women were killed and their killers roamed about with complete impunity. She said that one month had passed since the murder of Quratul Ain, but the final report was not presented by police so far.

She said women were murdered by their family members and in most cases, their husbands were prime accused. Women were killed for honour in upper Sindh, but such cases were not lodged and even their bodies were not handed over to the heirs, she said.

Former MPA Farheen Mughal said laws were enacted, but not implemented in that male-dominant society which did not favour punishment to men. She said women were also harassed at their workplaces.

Zeenat Samoon of the Sindhiani Tahrik, Sanam Mangi, Sajida Memon and others said it was time for resistance for women’s rights. Despite the laws, an increasing trend was being observed in cases of violence against women, they observed.

They said amendments were required for pro-women laws. Such was the height of ignorance that today women were not safe even in their graves, they added.

Sanaullah Buledi, brother of late Quratul Ain, and his mother Ms Amna said that they were being forced to settle the murder case in lieu of blood money. They vowed not to forgive the murderer of Aini.

They said that despite the lapse of one month, medical report of Aini was not finalised, fearing that it was being delayed to benefit the accused.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2021