STUDY FINDS HIGH INCIDENCE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

MINGORA: A recent Aurat Foundation study has shown a high incidence of violence against women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa revealing 278 women were killed and 80 more committed suicide in different districts of the province during the last nine months.

The findings of the study were made public during a seminar jointly organised by Aurat Foundation and The Awakening, a nongovernmental organisation, at a local hotel.

The study blamed high incidence of violence against women on poor implementation of laws.

Aurat Foundation national manager Saima Muneer told participants that the statistics compiled by her organisation were based on newspaper reports from January to September 2014.

Says 278 women killed, 80 committed suicide in KP during nine months

She said the killing of 278 women in nine months showed that one woman was killed daily in the province.

Saima said violence and domestic disputes had forced 80 women to commit suicide in the last three quarters of the current year.

She said 604 cases of domestic violence were reported in the province during the period showing four women were subjected to violent behaviour at home daily.

The Aurat Foundation manager also said 66 women were kidnapped in the province during nine months.

She said strict laws and their effective enforcement was needed to protect women from violence.

Aurat Foundation resident director Shabeena Hayat, who was also in attendance, said the statistics compiled by her organisation were based on newspaper reports and that the actual violence incidence could be higher as generally, the people didn’t report domestic violence against women and killing and suicide of their female relatives in the conservative society.

She said it was everyone’s responsibility to work for the women’s protection and that better public awareness could prevent violence against women.

Swat assistant commissioner Ashfaq Khan told participants that the government was taking all possible steps to provide protection to both men and women against violent behaviour.

He said women should inform the administrations of their respective districts about violence against them for action against culprits.

The Awakening chief Irfan Khan and his colleague, Iftikhar Ahmad, apprised participants of the state of violence against women in Swat district.(Courtesy by DAWN)