IFFRAS Report: Crimes against women in Pakistan increased under Imran Khan’s regime

Crimes against women in Pakistan continues unabashed, and it has witnessed rising cases of harassment under the PM Imran Khan regime.

The International Forum For Rights And Security (IFFRAS) reported increasing domestic violence, sexual assault, acid attacks, forced conversions and marriages, discrimination in job opportunities have become routine.

Every successive government has failed to provide a safe and open atmosphere for Pakistani women. None wanted to upset extremists who cited religious practices to suppress women’s rights and deny them their fundamental liberties. The current government is no exception to it. Instead, the problem worsened in Khan’s regime, reported IFFRAS.

Interestingly, the PTI government joined hands with its bitter rival, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, opposing the Aurat March – an annual event held on International Women’s Day on the 8th of March to highlight women’s issues.

Threats arising from the radical religious and traditional practices, including honor killings, have made the life of Pakistani women harrowing.

An international report by the Thomson Reuters Foundation has cited that Pakistan is the sixth most dangerous nation for women.

In the Global Gender Gap Report 2021, the country has featured in the worst four countries.

The IFFRAS further noted that the patriarchal attitude revitalized by the radical religious practices is the main reason for the women’s rights abuses.

Pakistan’s government has also failed to prevent the forced conversion of women from minority communities. The media has reported that over 1,000 such girls are kidnaped in Pakistan annually, and 70% are minor. They are compelled to change their religious identity, married off, and often sold off.

The United Nations Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed concerns over the “uneven” application of gender equality policies and programs in Pakistan and raised the alarm over violence against women, forced marriages, and honor killings.

In one of his speeches, PM Khan, an Oxford graduate, accused women of the rising crimes against them. He asked women to cover up to control temptation in men.

Such statements further traumatize and silence survivors of sexual violence by condemning them instead of those (offenders) who carry out the crime and the system that enables rapists, reported IFFRAS.

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