Punjab witnesses increase in kidnapping of women incidents: Report  

News Desk

Islamabad: As many as 131 women were kidnapped from across Pakistan, of which 96 were kidnapped from Punjab. The joint report of the Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) and Centre for Research, Development and Communication (CRDC) states that kidnapping of women, rape and violence against women (VAW) were the most reported cases in the month of May 2022 in the mainstream media.

Looking provinces wise segregation, Sindh reported 23 cases followed by 11 from KP and 1 from Islamabad, while no cases of kidnapping were reported from Balochistan.

Rape: Rape of women was the second most reported in the media, where a total of 57 cases were reported about. The province of Punjab again reported the highest number of cases of rape: 38, followed by Sindh with 13 cases, 3 from KP, 2 from Islamabad, and only 1 from Balochistan.

Similarly, violence against women saw significant reporting in the media with a total of 49 cases. The highest 38 were reported in Punjab, 9 in Sindh, 2 in KP, whereas no case was reported in Balochistan and Islamabad.

DV: At least 15 cases of domestic violence were reported in the province of Punjab which is the highest among all provinces. At least 6 cases were reported in the province of Sindh, while KP and Islamabad reported 1and1 respectively and no case was reported from Balochistan. This led to a combined total of 23 cases.

Honour killing: A total of 22 women lost their lives in cases of honour killing. The provincial breakdown is as follows: Punjab reported 14, KP five and Sindh reported 3, whereas Balochistan and Islamabad both reported zero cases in the media.

The lowest prevalence in media reporting was of workplace harassment, where only 2 cases were reported in the country, both from Punjab.

Violence against children: Amongst all indicators of violence against children, the highest prevalence was Child Abuse, where a total of 43 cases were reported across the country, with Punjab leading with 22 cases reported, followed by 11 in KP and 7 in Sindh.

The lowest frequencies were reported in Islamabad which was three. Interestingly, for the other two indicators, Child Labour and Child Marriage, zero cases were reported all over Pakistan. However, this simply means that zero cases of child labour and marriage were reported in the media. This does not mean that no such cases took place.

Increased media reporting could direct the attention of state authorities toward growing violence against women and children

SSDO Executive Director Syed Kausar Abbas stated, “The aim of regularly publishing this data is to bring attention to the rapid increase in violence against women and children.  Just this month, over 300 different cases of this nature occurred. We hope that with increased media attention and reporting, the government, police and judiciary dedicate their attention to speedy processing, resolution and punishment.”

SSDO and CRDC conducted daily tracking of several mainstream newspapers against nine indicators of violence against women and children. The selection criteria of the newspapers were based on being the most famous, accessible and most-read newspapers in Pakistan.

This data is published every month on SSDO’s official website, while both organizations also publish a consolidated report annually.