Pakistan Punjab Province Declare Emergency Due To Rising Sexual Abuse

Pakistan Punjab province has declared an emergency due to rising sexual abuse cases against women and children.

Punjab Home Minister Atta Tarar in a press conference on Monday said that “Four to five cases of rape are being reported daily in Punjab due to which the government is considering special measures to deal with cases of sexual harassment, abuse and coercion,” “To deal with rape cases, the administration has declared an emergency,” further he announced.

The Law Minister Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan stated that all cases will be reviewed by the Cabinet Committee on Rape and Law and Order, and the authority will seek the advice of civil society, women’s rights organisations, teachers, and attorneys on the issue. He stated that the government had commenced an anti-rape campaign, and students would be alerted about harassment in schools.

In the presser at Pakistan Muslims league-Nawaz (PMLN) headquarter, Home Minister also said that the role of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency will be improved for sampling of DNA on a fast track basis and a meeting will be conducted with the lab authorities.

In Pakistan’s Punjab province, a total of 2,439 women were raped and 90 were killed in the previous six months, and in Lahore only, more than 400 women have been raped and 2,300 have been kidnapped in the last six months, according to data released by the Punjab Information Commission.

According to a report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), in Pakistan, a minimum of 11 rape cases are reported daily, and more than 22,000 cases have been reported in the last six years.

However, these are the cases which have been reported by the survivors and they have been recorded by the authorities. Although, many cases are gone unreported. In Pakistan, the Conviction rate is very low. According to the HRCP report, the accused were convicted in only 77 cases out of 22,000 and which means that the conviction rate is only 0.35%.

Besides the rape cases, women in Pakistan always have been victims of domestic violence, harassment in the workplace and discrimination. Human Rights Ministry Report noted that the 5,048 cases in 2018, 4,751 cases in 2019, 4,276 cases in 2020 and 2,078 cases of harassment in the workplace against women were reported.