LARKANA, Feb 13 More than 90 per cent cases of women abuse go unreported in the district because of pressure from police, community, tribal and feudal lords, according to Zia Awan, chairman of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid.

He said at a press conference here on Saturday that last year about 226 cases of women abuse were reported in the district, which he said, were just a tip of the iceberg. Social taboos linked to women abuse cases usually kept majority of victims silent, he said.

Mr Awan termed situation regarding violation of women's rights in Larkana alarming because cases of murder, gang rapes, kidnapping, karo-kari, jirgas, forced and exchange marriages, domestic violence and trafficking of women were frequently reported from the district and its adjoining.

Flanked by Sumera Naz, project coordinator of Madadgar, Faiz Mohammed Bhangar and Nighat Samijo, he said according to data compiled by Madadgar from 2000 to 2009 19,720 cases of women abuse were reported in the province.

They included 1,563 murders, 485 rape-murder, 874 rapes, 412 gang rapes, 1,563 torture cases, 685 karo-kari, 541 burn cases, 4,156 kidnapping, 654 police torture, 3,970 suicides, 52 hudood cases, 742 human trafficking and 1,023 forced marriages, he said.

He said that except Karachi, 2,135 cases of women abuse were reported from Hyderabad, 3,541 from Larkana and 1,123 from Sukkur during the period under study.

Madadgar (women help line), he said, provided legal assistance, counselling and referral services to victims. There was need for more lawyers, psychiatrists and women shelter houses in the rural areas to effectively cater to the needs of victimised women, he said.

He called for evolving helpline mechanism throughout the country to gather complaints from women and children and providing them help. The data analysis indicated that the number of cases of violence against women was on a steady rise, which should serve as a wakeup call for the government as well as civil society, he said.

Mr Awan expressed dissatisfaction over official measures to curb crimes against the neglected section of society and regretted that law enforcers often failed to effectively prosecute the perpetrators.

He called for implementing the United Nations convention protocols, human rights legislation draft through an independent judicial body and suggested setting up a special cell at provincial courts to investigate women's and children's cases besides training judicial employees, medico-legal officers and staff of shelter homes.

Meanwhile, Ms Aisha, a Bengali woman, who had sought Madadgar's help in getting back to his country, told journalists that she was kidnapped when she was going to school in his native town Bumisal in Bangladesh and smuggled into Pakistan.

She was sold to someone in Landhi, Karachi on March 15, 1992 who sold her again to one Aziz in Kotri town for Rs50,000. Aziz married her off to Haji Hayat Sargani in Sehar town for Rs100,000, she said.

Tears flowing down her cheeks, Ms Aishah sitting with her three children Sajida, 7, Naveeda, 10, and Abida, 9, said she wanted to go back to her country to meet her parents. She did not want to leave her children and would return to rejoin them, she said.

Mr Awan said the Madadgar would help this lady reunite with her parents. Another woman Bashul, wife of Haji Mirani of Masoohab village, expressed fear her daughter Reshman who was married off to Rustam in Mohal village in Naudero might have been killed because she did not know where she was.

Rustam had left home with Reshman two years ago and since then she had no information about her, she said.

She said that her two other daughters were also married in the same family but they could not afford to raise voice for fear it might put Reshman in danger.

She appealed to police and human right organisations to help her find her daughter.