Violence Women Pakistan

Violence 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 International Secretariat of AmnestyInternational *16 April 2002ASA 33/010/200262/02The g overnment of Pakistan vigorously condemns the practice of so-called abide by killings. Such acts do not find a place in ourreligion or law. Killing in the name of watch is murder and result be treated as such. General Pervez Musharraf, April 2000IntroductionWomen in Pakistan be severely disadvantaged and discriminatedagainst. Violence against women in the home and community as comfortablyas in the custody of law enforcement officials is on the rise.The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) found that in 2000a muliebrity was raped every two hours, and that hundreds were victimsof pay back killings, domestic personnel, burnings and murder.While a few positive changes get taken plac e over thelast couple of years, the government is still failing to nursewomen from these abuses.Many cases receive media attention and the involvement ofhuman rights organizations, scarce they are quickly forgotten.Other women suffer abuses in silence for years, die violentdeaths and stir up buried in unmarked graves.Womens awareness of their rights has increased thanks tothe work of Pakistani womens rights groups. However most womenremain ignorant of even their most staple fiber rights. A newspapersurvey in 2000 reported that almost 90% of women did not realisethat they had any rights at all.In its fifth report 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 thecriminal justice system. The report in like manner sets extinctrecommendations.Family and communityDomestic hysteria, which includes physical abuse, rape, acidthrow ing, burning and killing, is widespread in Pakistan. Fewwomen would complain under legal provisions relating to physicalinjury. For those who do take the step, police and the judiciary unremarkably dismiss their complaints and send them back to theirabusive 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 married women report being kicked, slapped, beaten or cozyly abused when husbands were disgruntled by their cookingor cleaning, or when the women had failed to bear a child orhad given birth to a girl instead of a boy. other(prenominal) organizationstated that one woman is murdered and one woman is kidnapped inPakistan every day.? The case of ShukriaOn 22 October 2001, Sharif in village Goharpur, Sheikhupuradistrict, Punjab province, fastened his wife Shukrias wrists andankles with rope, poured kerosene over her a nd with the help ofhis mother and sister set her on fire. The couple had beenmarried for ten years. As they remained childless, Sharif wantedto marry another woman but 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 releasedwithin days.Acid-throwing is on the increase. Acid burns do notusually kill but result in hideous disfiguration and suffering,destruction of self-esteem, and confine women to the home. Thegovernment has done little to restrict the sale of acid or topunish those who use it to injure women.Forced marriage ceremony of young girls continues to be reporteddespite a legal minimum age of 16. While thrall is illegal inPakistan, girls and women continue to be traded to settle debtsor conflicts. In Sukkur in 2000, a six-year-old girl was marrie dto a 60-year-old man when her family was unable to remunerate a debt.According to newspaper reports the marriage was consummated andthe little girl screamed loudly for hours after the rape.A form of forced marriage specific to the intragroup 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 S come onh Asia.The open sale of girls and women in markets is reportedin underdeveloped areas such as parts of Balochistan.Some women, both local and trafficked, are killed if theyrefuse to earn money in prostitution. Some are forced intoprostitution by their husbands. diarist Su fi Mohammad Khanfrom Badin, Sindh, was killed on 2 May 2001 after reportingextensively about trafficking in drugs and women in theTharparkar area of Sindh which happened with the connivance ofapathetic authorities. He reported that rough 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.Honour 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 damage amans honour. Often the yard for such assumptions can bevery flimsy and amount to nothing more than a suspicion about awomans fidelity. Men are to a fault known to have felt shamed iftheir women seek divorce or become the victims of rape.The exact number of honour killings is impossible toascertain as numerous go unreported. Media and human rightsorganizations estimate that t hree women are murdered each day.In 2000, the HRCP recorded over 1000 honour killings in Punjabalone. Prosecution of honour killings is lax and only a fewmen have been convicted.In the higher levels of government and the judiciary,honour killings are recognised as a effective 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 exertion has followedand honour killings continue to be reported daily. In December 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 rescued her and took her to hospitalwhere, with 85% burns, she died. In early 2001, Mir Afzal cut off the nose of his wife AmrozKhatoon in Karachi as he suspected her of infidelity. He thenattempted to kill her but neighbours alerted by the noiseinterceded. practice of law 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 office 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 several 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 and 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 five of herrelatives and injuring eight.The HRCP has discovered 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 accusing 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 made to pay off the husband andhe is pardoned.In a few cases, women have begun to resist violence inthe name of honour. A young woman escaped death when shefought her husband. The local landlord held a jirga (tribalcouncil) which established her pureness and asked the husband toapologise and take her back.Women who marry men of their own choice are often seen todamage their familys honour t hey are frequently detained bytheir parents, forcibly married to someone else, threatened,humiliated, assaulted or killed. If a couple marry in courtagainst the will of their parents, and the parents challenge theunion, they can be charged with illicit informal relations underthe Zina Ordinance (which prohibits sex outside marriage).Newly-weds are advised to have their marriage confirmed by amagistrate and seek shelter 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 toextract money or information. Women are subjected togende r-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 retain women from accessingthe criminal justice system and seeking redress.Some court judgments over the past 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 applied and the gender bias ofindividual judges is determining whether a woman is protected ornot.Police confronted with complaints of domestic violenceare known to refuse to register the complaint, to humiliate thevictim or to have advised the battered woman to return home. Eventh e 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 put throughand do not require a huge investment of resources. They dorequire political will and the determination that violenceagainst women is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue.However, vestigial 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 civil society andindividuals. Everyone has a responsibility to co mmit 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 brush up 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 make-upwww.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/asa330062002