KARACHI, May 19: Around 328 incidents of violence against women and men occurred in the province during the first three months, January to March, of the current year, says a report.

A quarterly report titled, “Situation of violence against women in Sindh” compiled by the Aurat Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, was launched here at a meeting on Monday. The launching ceremony was attended by Sindh Women Development Minister Tauqeer Fatima and various human rights activists.

Apart from various other incidents, the report also made a mention of an incident in Qazi Ahmad Town of Nawabshah district, in which a woman was subjected to sexual abuse by two policemen, Manzoor Machchi and Asghar Machhi, along with an unknown accomplice, in March.

According to the report, despite the registration of a case, a jirga was later convened which decided that the policemen pay Rs50,000 as a compensation to the victim’s family. Subsequently, the case was withdrawn.

Criticising the system of a parallel judiciary, the report said that convening of jirgas had been declared illegal by the Sindh High Court a few years ago, but these jirgas were regularly held and issues particularly those pertaining to women were decided and discussed at such local meetings.

The report pointed out that the 328 incidents included 110 murders, seven cases of attempt to murder, 32 incidents of physical torture, 38 kidnappings, 65 honour killings (35 of these were women and 30 men), 14 rape and 10 gang-rape cases, 24 suicides, 30 cases of domestic violence, six of burning, 14 cases of custodial violence, six sexual assaults and one case pertaining to acid throwing, etc.

Out of the 80 incidents in which women were murdered, the motive behind 35 of those killings was related to family honour, followed by matrimonial issues, domestic conflicts, property and other issues.

Out of the 24 women who committed suicides, 10 took their lives due to domestic violence and 10 others due to domestic conflicts, one due to forced marriage and three owing to poverty. Out of the 30 domestic violence cases, 11 were related to physical violence and 19 due to threat, emotional or psychological violence, while three to four were sold in the name of marriages.

The report says that out of the 24 rapes and gang-rape cases, in eight cases perpetrators were close relatives of the victims including father and father-in-law, two were influential people of the tribe and two were police personnel.

It says that three women in Jacobabad, Shahdadkot and Badin were sold in the name of marriages and at least five girls/ women were given as a compensation through jirga decisions in Pano Aqil, Thull, Warah and Sobho Dero and a man had reportedly shaven the head and eyebrows of his former wife in Sukkur.

Sindh Women Development Minister Tauqeer Fatima urged the women particularly mothers not to give any preferential treatment to their sons, as according to her, such a treatment shaped up a mindset that did not respect women.

She said that efforts were being made to fix a job quota for women. She said that over Rs500 million was available with the government under the microfinance scheme, which would be distributed among the women, particularly victims of violence.

She said that the government planned to distribute Rs30,000 to such women so that they could start some economic activity and live a self-sufficient and respectable life.

Earlier, Farheen Mughal, an MPA, said that a lot of work had to be done to raise awareness among the women regarding their rights.

Dr Nisar Shah, a medico-legal official at a major city hospital, said that though Karachi was the biggest city of the country, DNA tests could be conducted only in Lahore or Islamabad, and even rape kits were not available at his hospital.

Anis Haroon of the Aurat Foundation said that women activists had been struggling for over a quarter of a century to get laws that were discriminatory against the weaker sections of society – including women and minorities, etc -- abolished, but it still seemed to be a long struggle till women could get equal rights and justice.

Kauser Khan, Uzma Noorani, Lala Hassan and others also spoke.