KARACHI, Pakistan: As many as 421 incidents of violence against women and girls were reported in Sindh while 72 of them were recorded in Khairpur district alone in last three months, according to a report published on Dawn on Saturday.
The report titled “Situation of Violence Against Women in Sindh (July-September 2014)” was prepared by the Aurat Foundation, a non-governmental organisation working on women-related issues.
The report said that the 421 incidents involved 534 women and girls but First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered only in 66 cases.
It said that the issue of violence against women was rooted in social norms and economic dependence while the discriminatory practices were the result of the patriarchal system.
It was observed in the report that urban areas were fast catching up with the rural areas as far as far as violence against women was concerned as out of the 421 cases, 197 were reported in the urban areas.
The report mentioned that out of the 534 women victims, 249 were married while 67 were unmarried whereas the marital status of 218 victims remained unknown owing to incomplete information.
The nature of crimes in the violence against women included murder (76 women), hunour killing (57), suicide (49), jirga (41), abducted and kidnapped (41), injury (39), rape / gang rape (21/5), sexual assault (17), torture (17) and attempted suicide (19).
In addition, it said that 91 of the victims aged between 19 and 36 years, 66 were minors and 13 were over 37 years while the age of 364 other victims of violence could not be ascertained.
The district-wise number of cases during the three months were Khairpur (72), Jacobabad (46), Larkana (45), Shikarpur (28), Sanghar (27), Sukkur (23), Benazirabad (21), Ghotki (21), Naushahro Feroz (16), Mirpurkhas (15), Kashmore (15), Tharparkar (14), Karachi (12), Jamshoro (12), Dadu (11), Hyderabad (9), Badin (8), Qamber-Shahdadkot (8), Thatta (7), Matiari (4), Umerkot (4), Tando Muhammad Khan (2) and Tando Allahyar (1).
