‘Government fully alive to curb domestic violence against women’
By Hina Kiyani

ISLAMABAD—The Government is making all out efforts to curb domestic violence against women, a top official said here Wednesday. Sohail Safdar, Secretary of the Ministry of Women development, told a seminar that the problem was broad-based and required complete cooperation from all stakeholders. He said the absence of authentic data on violence-related cases involving women and gender-based crimes made it difficult to evolve a more effective strategy.
However, the interior division and home departments in all provinces have been asked to update data and provide a fuller picture. Referring to neighbouring India, he said a law banishing domestic violence had been approved by the lower house of the parliament last month and it was now under discussion in the upper house. He said in Pakistan the Federal Cabinet last week approved rupees 480-million grant for programmes to tackle the problem of domestic violence, which is the first time in the history of the country that a government has taken the matter seriously. Sohail Safdar said the Ministry of Women Development has already set up 10 shelter homes while 10 more would be set up in the current year. The centers are providing consolation and legal aid to distressed women.
An amount of rupees 100 million is being spent on legal aid to the victimized women. Pakistan for the first plans to arrange a regional conference on violence against women, which shows that the government is seriously committed eliminating domestic violence. The official said in June 2004 the European Union under its Micro Projects Program entered into a Grant Contract with Family Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP) for the implementation of a project. The project entitled “Institutional Strengthening to Combat Domestic Violence against Women” focussed on actions such as attacking women with acid or harming them through so-called stove bursts.
The 14-month programme comprising seminars, publication of pamphlets and training workshops was implemented in the districts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Miss Sadia Bokhari, Chairperson Urban Village Watch,Islamabad, said violence against women in any form undermines national development. About the general data on violence against women collected in Asia, she said in India 52 percent of young girls faced sexual harassment. In Nepal five to seven thousand women became victims of trafficking every year.
In Bangladesh 62 percent women are subjected to domestic violence, while in Pakistan 1,800 cases of stove blasts have been reported so far. Carolene Cartuss, European Commission representative in Pakistan, said the EU would continue to extend every kind of support to the government of Pakistan. She was of the view that violence against women mainly emanated from illiteracy and cultural environment in the country. However, the present government has made significant progress in combating the problem by taking up the issues like revision of Hudood laws and steps to curb honour killing. Chaudhary Hassan Nawaz, Director General Federal Judicial Academy, Islamabad, Taimur Ali Khan, Superintendent of Police, and Saeed Ahmed Qureshi, former Deputy Chairman Planning Commission of Pakistan, also spoke on the causes of domestic violence.