ISLAMABAD, June 7: As many as 1,321 incidents of violence against women occurred in the four provinces of Pakistan and in the capital between January and March. This was revealed in a report on the “situation of violence against women in Pakistan” issued by the Aurat Foundation, an NGO, working for women rights here on Friday.

The report says that violence against women was on the rise. Out of 1,321 reported cases 366 were of murder (130 in Punjab, 110 in Sindh, 95 in NWFP, 25 in Balochistan and 6 in Islamabad) 90 cases of honour killing (11 in Punjab, 35 in Sindh, 8 in NWFP and 36 in Islamabad), 119 cases of domestic violence (34 in Punjab, 30 in Sindh, 46 in NWFP, 7 in Balochistan and 2 in the capital), 66 cases of suicide, 11 cases of attempted suicide, 61 cases of rape, 18 cases of gang-rape, 34 cases of sexual assault, 34 cases of custodial violence, 16 cases of burning, 3 cases of acid throwing, 6 cases of trafficking, 246 cases of abduction, 25 cases of attempted murder, 179 cases of hurt and body injury, and 57 cases of violence of miscellaneous nature in the four provinces and capital.

The percentage of murder of women among the reported cases was highest at 27 per cent, followed by abduction 18.6 per cent, hurt or body injury 13.5 per cent, domestic violence 9 per cent, honour killing 6.8 per cent, rape/gang-rape 6 per cent, suicide custodial violence 1.8 per cent and burning/acid throwing 1.4 per cent. Ninety-nine per cent perpetrators of these incidents of violence were male, many of them relatives.

In most of the murder cases, the motives cited were accusations of illicit sexual relations, domestic quarrels, blood feuds, land disputes, lure of property and personal enmity.

A seminar was also organised on the launching of the quarterly report.

The speakers at the seminar highlighted the existing weaknesses in law and identified that as one of the major factors behind increase in violence and demanded easy access to justice and relief for women.

The misconceptions about the status of women in Islam should also be dispelled, the speakers said. The issue of domestic violence received emphatic mention at the seminar.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Women’s Development, Health and Culture Sherry Rehman, said that issues of violence against women were across class divisions and there was much to be done to provide relief to women.

The government was committed to empower women but this could only be done when there were an increased number of women in the public sector.

The quota for women in public sector was to be increased from 10 to 20 per cent, she said adding two bills one on Vani and another on forced marriages were being drafted while five other bills to protect women had been tabled.

She said no legislation could be of any good unless there was public will to accept that for which awareness raising campaigns were vital, she added.

The panel of speakers included Bushra Gohar, MNA, Awami National Party, Dr Faqir Hussain, Secretary, Law and Justice Commission, and Maria Rasheed, Director Rozan.