Tuesday, December 10, 2002
More than 450 women killed in Pakistan 'honour killings' in 2002
Agence France-Presse Islamabad, December 10
More than 450 Pakistani women or girls were killed by relatives this year in so-called "honour killings," and at least as many were raped, a rights group said on Tuesday.
In a report coinciding with International Human Rights Day, the private Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said this year "has seen an alarming deterioration in the rights situation for citizens."
In the southern province of Sindh alone, there were more than 300 honour killings, the rights commission said.
Some 161 women or girls were killed by relatives in the central province of Punjab. There were 469 registered rape cases, including the community-ordered gang rape in June of Mukhtiar Mai which triggered national and international outrage. Of the sexual assaults, 158 were against underage girls.
Another 149 women were burned in Punjab.
There were no figures for other areas of Pakistan where information, particularly in rural areas, is often sketchy.
More honour killings were reported for the whole of 2001 in Punjab, at 227, but 84 fewer rapes were registered in the province last year than so far in 2002. No figures on violence against women were given last year for Sindh.
Kamila Hayat, an official with the rights commission in Islamabad, said that overall Pakistan has not seen improvement regarding violence against women. "It has not been a good year for women," she told AFP. "Numbers seem to have come down, but the intensity of the crimes has increased."
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