Tuesday, January 13, 2009

202 women victimised in last quarter of 08: report





PESHAWAR: Aurat Foundation Tuesday presented a quarterly report on violence against women, which said that 202 such cases were reported in the last three months.

The figures provided by AF were collected from media reports and two women crisis centers operative in the NWFP, which put the provincial metropolis at the top of the list where 87 cases of the violence were registered while no such incident was reported from Tank and Hangu districts in the last quarter of 2008.

Unveiling the figures Rubina Naz and Asad Ali Qureshi said most of the cases reported from Peshawar were from the rural parts of the city, such as Badhber, Tehkal, Daudzai and Pishtakhara.

Besides Peshawar other cities such as Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swat and Mansehra were among those districts where the rate of violence against women was high as compared to other districts.

The figures showed that 80 cases of murder, which constituted 39 per cent of the total cases, 43 cases of hurt and body injuries, 16 suicide cases, 20 kidnapping cases, 28 cases of domestic violence and nine cases of honour killing were reported during the period.

The report said the motives behind the violence included family disputes, refusal to marriage proposals, elopement, choice marriages, poverty, illicit relationship, prolonged illness, property disputes, ransom, forced marriages, casting aspersions on character and petty disputes.

The data provided in the report was collected from the newspapers, electronic media and two crisis centers and included those incidents, which were reported to the police. However, the actual number of incidents of violence could be higher than provided by AF, keeping in view the security situation of the province and tribal areas.

Responding to the questions put up by the newspersons, the civil society representatives said that unfortunately the incidences of violence were on the rise despite all the tall claims by the government.

AF Resident Director Shabina Ayaz, while speaking on the occasion, also expressed concern over the rising lawlessness that had hit Peshawar and other troubled areas of NWFP and Fata. “When a family loses a man, it obviously affects the women members of the household, hence we are equally worried about the deaths of men in the recent wave of terrorism,” said the rights activists, while calling for the compilation of the data on those men who lost lives in the terror acts.

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