Punjab most violent province for women: Report - Tribune

ISB: Punjab is the most violent province in Pakistan, or so the data collected by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in 70 districts across the country suggests.

Punjab Most Violent Against Women: Report

According to the report, 78% of the total 1,063 FIRs filed for crimes against women were registered in Punjab, 11% in Sindh, 8% in KP, 2% in ICT and 1% in Balochistan.

Moreover, out of the 215 reported cases of rape, 85% were in Punjab, 5% in Sindh and 4% in K-P. Ninety-five per cent of the total 253 FIRs registered against assault on women’s were reported in 25 districts in Punjab, while 2% were registered in four districts of K-P and four incidents each in three districts in Sindh and two in Balochistan.

(Read: Reported cases of violence against women show a marked rise)

The report stated that out of the 40 honour killings cases registered in 15 districts, 45% were reported in six districts of Sindh and 25% inKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). Sixty-five per cent of 409 FIRs registered in 29 districts against forced marriages were reported in nine districts in Punjab, the report stated.

In July, FAFEN monitors visited 70 District Police Officers’ (DPO) offices to collect information on 27 offences covered by the Pakistan Penal Code. They monitored 28 districts in Punjab, 18 in K-P, 12 in Sindh, 11 in Balochistan and one in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). They noted that 40,446 First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered, of which 3% cases involved violence against women.

The report monitored 27 offences and categorised them into five categories: physical harm to persons, crimes pertaining to property, threat and fraud, crimes against women and other crimes.

Region wise

Overall, almost 72% of the total 40,446 FIRs were registered in Punjab, followed by 17% in K-P, 9% in Sindh and 1% each in Balochistan and ICT.

However, the report said that relatively higher registration of cases in Punjab may be attributed to its high population, willingness of people to register FIRs and better response by the police and to the greater outreach of FAFEN monitors in Punjab.

Similarly, lesser registration of cases in Balochistan and K-P does not necessarily represent a low crime rate. It may be attributed to limited outreach of FAFEN, non-registration of cases by the victims, unavailable infrastructure or to people’s tendency to resolve their conflicts through informal structures like Jirgas.

Category wise

Around 66% of the 4,756 FIRs of crimes involving physical harm to persons were registered in Punjab, 16% in Sindh and 14% in K-P. Similarly, 85% of the 8,073 property-related FIRs were registered in Punjab, 11% in Sindh, and 2% and 1% in K-P and ICT respectively.

Ninety-one per cent of the total 3,351 threat and fraud crimes were registered in Punjab, both K-P and Sindh claimed an equal share of 4%.

Monitored districts in Punjab reported 57% of the attempted murder and 46% murder cases. The report said 29% and 20% of all murder cases were reported in 12 districts in Sindh and 17 districts in K-P.

It added that nearly three fourths of all murder cases reported in Sindh were registered in Karachi district alone, attributing it to the wave of target killings along with its population density.

The report said theft, hurt, counterfeiting currency notes, robbery and dacoity and motor vehicle theft were among the 10 most frequent crimes while hurt, murder, attempted murder, theft and robbery and dacoity were the most widespread crimes in July 2011.

FAFEN is a network of 42 civil society organizations working to foster democratic accountabilities in Pakistan. It is governed by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2011.

Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/272911/punjab-most-violent-province-for-women-report/

Who is this mysterious lady? By Javed Nusrat

For more than ten days a lady with elitist connections is reportedly being harassed by the Lahore Police. Alleged to have kidnapped a foreigner for ransom, her case is now before an anti-terrorism court. Instead of focusing on her defence through legal means, the said lady continues to insist, almost hysterically, that she was being ‘punished’ by the Sharifs for attempting to enter their family via ‘duly executed marriage’.

She failed to find any takers of her story from amongst the Punjab-based media. But the MQM Quaid has owned her ‘cause’. And at the outset of Monday sitting, legislators belonging to his party also ganged up to stir up the scandal on floor of the House.

An otherwise quiet and lie low type Sardar Mehtab Abbassi could not resist the provocation. He stood up to aggressively forewarn that if MQM were allowed to vent the scandalous stuff, his comrades would pay them in their own coin by throwing dirt at the Muttahida leadership.

National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza announced a break for Maghrib prayer and took a long time in resuming her seat. Obviously backdoor channels were activated to ensure peace in the house. The PPP legislators went an extra mile in the said context. At a meeting of this party’s core committee at the presidency, Asif Ali Zardari had firmly declared that no one from his party should dare drag Sharifs in a scandal. It was at the same meeting that he conveyed to the Speaker of Sindh Assembly that the much deferred decision on Dr Zulfiqar Mirza should immediately be announced. “I am losing a very old friend (Mirza) in order to save our understanding with the MQM,” he announced.

Many in Islamabad’s conspiracy-churning drawing rooms have been claiming that the fine print of the Supreme Court’s decision on the chaos of Karachi was in effect another ‘doctrine of necessity’ invoked to strengthen the hand of extra-parliamentary forces. However, President Zardari seems to believe that the said decision empowered the federal and provincial governments to take firm decisions for restoring order in Karachi. He also hinted at preparing for ‘Seraiki province,’ while asking his people to form two and not one committee for reorganizing the PPP in Punjab. The second committee should absolutely focus on “South Punjab.” Raza Rabbani felt un­happy with the decision, but the President snubbed him politely.

Another kind of embarrassing snub, however, was suffered by Asfandyar Wali as not more than four members attended a meeting of the National Assembly committee on foreign affairs called by him. Even Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar’s presence at the meeting failed to reduce the effect of the rebuff. .

Meanwhile, for the past three days, intense lobbying is on in Islamabad to grab the about-to- be- vacated post of Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board. The names being mentioned in this regard include Ali Raza of NBP fame, former Test cricketers Zaheer Abbas and Majid Khan and Zaraee Tarqiati Bank man Zaka Ashraf. Each one has his own promoter. Ali Raza is being promoted by president’s bossom friend, Anwar Majid and ZAB’s socialite friend Tufail Shaikh. Zaheer Abbas by fellow Sialkotia Rehman Malik, Majid by Dr Soomro. The President earlier had shown his preference for Zaka. The one man who is said to have refused the offer, Aitzaz Ahsan refused to confirm or deny the report. Perhaps the president wants him out of the way before he starts dishing out tickets for the next Senate elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2011.

Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/271519/who-is-this-mysterious-lady/

Seven more die of dengue in Lahore

LAHORE: Another seven people including five women died of dengue fever in different hospitals on Saturday, raising the death toll to 205 in the city.

Dengue cases are on the rise and patients with high fever flocked to hospitals in the provincial metropolis.

Today, 60-year-old Mukhtaran Bibi of Baghbanpura, Mrs Iqbal (61) of Temple Road and Arooj of Dharampura lost their battle against dengue at Services Hospital while under treatment Rabia (24) of Kot Khawaja Saeed, Aliza (7) and Saeed of Bahawalpur died at Mayo Hospital.

The identity of the seventh patient who perished at a private hospital could not be ascertained.

Health department figures revealed that during the last 24 hours, 312 new dengue cases were reported in Punjab, raising the number to 14,978 while 498 new cases were reported in Lahore, raising the total to 13,457. Some 1,862 patients are under treatment in various hospitals in Punjab while over 600 have already been cured.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/08/seven-more-die-of-dengue-in-lahore.html