Women in Pakistan:
All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.
There shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone”.

“No citizen otherwise qualified for appointment in the service of Pakistan shall be discriminated against in respect of any such appointment on the ground only of…sex…” “Steps shall be taken to ensure full participation of women in all spheres of national life”.
The state shall protect the marriage, the family; the mother…The state shall… [Ensure] that…women are not employed in vocations unsuited to their sex alone…”

Constitution of Pakistan:
Articles 25, 27, 35, 37.

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person. Men and women of full age without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry or to have a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage and its dissolution. Marriage shall be entered in to only with the free and full consent of the attending spouses. The family is the natural and fundamental group, unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and state.”
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3 & 16.
All these beautifully constructed sentences take 180 degrees turn while considering the status of specifically ‘women’ in Pakistan. The Pakistani women still seem to be living in the dark ages. Islam was the first religion to recognize the equality of sexes and granted women rights unheard of 1400 years ago. Their other tragedy lies in the fact that what was highly progressive in those early days of Islam and which ought to have been kept in step with the changing of the realities of life through Ijtehad, was frozen in that position through retrogressive interpretation of religious edicts. In addition to that, male chauvinism and cultural taboos, some of them derived from the Hindu society have combined to keep the women down.
Back Ground:

In Pakistan the story of a woman’s deprivations start even before her birth, because the girl-child is not a particularly ‘wanted’ child. Her life is a journey of subordination. When she is young her father decides for her on matters ranging from whether she will get any education, to the all important matters of whom she would marry. After marriage, her husband and her in-laws get hold of her reins and decide matters on her behalf; like shall she or shall she not have a child every year, or whether she would produce only boys, or whether she can seek independent employment and so on. Finally when she becomes old and her husband gets weak or may have gone already, it is her son or sons who decide her fate in the declining years of her life. As if this is not enough, the whole society acts as an oppressor, browbeating her in to obedience. Thus, the word ‘woman’ in Pakistan is synonymous with ‘endurance’. She is simply forced to accept certain bare facts of life once she grows up to be a woman. Be it on streets, or for that matter in restaurants, a woman is first and foremost required to be alert. It is best to try and not notice, women are told. Infact we can say, “The right to life of women in Pakistan is conditional on their obeying social norms and traditions.”
Male dominance and commodification subjects women to violence on a daily basis in Pakistan. Approximately seventy-percent to ninety-percent of Pakistani women are subjected to domestic violence. Typical violent acts include, but are not limited to, murder in the name of “honour,” rape, spousal abuse including marital rape, acid attacks, and being burned by family members (often labelled an accident by family members). A rape occurs in Pakistan every two hours with one in every 12,500 women being victims of rape. Five women per day are killed and two women per day in the region of Punjab alone are kidnapped. (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s 1999 Report, www.hrcp.cjb.net). Incidents of women being burned by men throwing acid, an act that severely disfigures its victims, has increased as well.
Women are killed in the name of honor due to society’s view that a woman’s every action reflects upon a family’s honor, especially a man’s honor. Therefore, if family members, especially a male family member, view that a woman’s action is “dishonourable,” he feels that in order to restore that honor to him or his family he must kill her. The decision to kill a female family member is often a family or tribal decision.
Many women are killed due to an unsubstantiated rumour that has been passed around the community. Many men do not give women the benefit of the doubt, or bother to find out her side of the story. Many young women are killed due to the mere accusation of having sexual intercourse outside of marriage, only to have been found to be virgins during autopsy. Women who seek a divorce are also often victims of honor Killings. One recent example is the high profile case in Baluchistan where five women were buried alive because two of them wanted to get married with their own wish and the rest of the women were supporting them. Even more shocking is that women who are victims of rape often become victims of honor killings because they had intercourse outside of marriage even though it was non-consensual
Newspapers in Lahore reported in 1999 that over four women per week were injured when their stoves allegedly burst, killing on average three of the four women. (Now the ratio has increased) Male family members assert that these incidents were “accidents” though many victims, if they survive, have stated that they were intentionally set on fire by their husbands and/or husbands’ families – – a practice similar to honor killings. “Bride burning” is often a result of the alleged disobedience of the wife, the inability of a woman to have male children or a wife failing to have a large dowry.
Amnesty International, along with many other organizations reporting statistics related to violence against women in Pakistan, acknowledged that their numbers should be viewed as conservative due to the fact that many violent acts against women are not even reported. Amnesty International cites one example of this terrifying violence:

Seventeen-year-old Nagina Bibi in Tarali Kalan near Islamabad was engaged by her father to her cousin but her brother wanted her to marry his wife’s brother. After her brother saw her talk to the cousin chosen by their father on the street, he and another brother on April 14, 1999 reportedly tied Nagina with a rope to a wooden post in their home, sprinkled kerosene over her and set her on fire. Neighbours had her admitted to a hospital with 75% burns, which the family claimed to be due to a stove bursting. Nagina told doctors that her brother had set her on fire because she had disobeyed him. Nagina died after 23 painful days in the hospital. It is not known at present if the brothers’ case has gone to court
In addition to that, women in Pakistan face all kinds of gross violence and abuse at the hands of the male perpetuators, family members and state agents. Multiple forms of violence include rape; domestic abuse as spousal murder, mutilation, burning and disfiguring faces by acid, beatings; ritual honour-killings and custodial abuse and torture. According to a report by Amnesty International released on June 15, 2000, several hundred women and girls die each year in so-called ‘honour-killings’ in Pakistan, in a backdrop to government inaction. She is killed like a bird in family feuds to create evidence of “illicit” connections and cover them under the garb of “grave and sudden provocation” to escape severe punishment. The practice of Summary-killing of a woman suspected of an illicit liaison, known as ‘Karo Kari’ in Sindh and Balochistan, is known to occur in all parts of the country. Kari’s (the females suspected of illicit relationships) remain dishonoured even after death. Their bodies are thrown in rivers or buried in special hidden Kari graveyards. Nobody mourns for them or honours their memory by performing their relevant rights. Karo’s (the males suspected of illicit relationships) by contrast are reportedly buried in the communal graveyards. The promise made by the country’s Chief Executive in April 2000, that all ‘honour’ killings would be treated as murders has yet to be converted into anything nearing reality.
Women in Pakistan continue to be victims of this senseless violence. Though patriarchal family and tribal traditions exacerbate violence against women, it is ultimately the responsibility of the Pakistani government to protect these women and to prosecute those who commit these horrible atrocities. Instead, perpetrators of violence against women are provided with impunity by Pakistan’s society, judicial system and overall the government. Pakistani women are left with little, if any, protection from violence and discrimination.

Family and Tribal Customs:

Women in Pakistan live in a world structured around strict religious, family and tribal customs that essentially force them to live in submission and overall fear. In a nation where Islamic law dictates traditional family values and is enmeshed in the legal system, Pakistan’s government, law and society discriminate against women and condone gender-based violence. Though Pakistan ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 1996, herein referred to as the Women’s Convention, it has failed to remove discriminatory laws against women. It has additionally failed to create new laws and to enforce existing laws that protect women from discrimination and violence. Pakistan has yet to integrate many of the Women’s Convention’s provisions into domestic law and educate the Pakistani population of its responsibilities under international law to promote women’s rights. Due to these failures, women’s rights in Pakistan are progressively deteriorating. Women are subjected to discrimination and violence on a daily basis due to the cultural and religious norms that Pakistani society embraces. Pakistan’s interpretation of Islam views women as needing protection, which essentially results in their suppression physically, mentally and emotionally. Though they constitute approximately forty-eight percent of the population, women have a low percentage of participation in society outside of the family. According to the 1999 report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; only two percent of Pakistani women participate in the formal sector of employment. Ninety-three percent of rural women and seventy-two percent of urban women are illiterate. Women are often confined to “char divari,” a term translated literally to mean “the four walls of the house.” Men are the decision-makers, especially in family matters such as marriage and divorce.
Strict family, tribal and traditional Pakistani Islamic values dictate that women are considered property of male family members. Pakistani society essentially views a woman as being owned by her father or brothers before marriage, and her husband after marriage. This commodification of women is one of the main factors contributing to violence against women. If men believe that women are mere property, men are more inclined to feel that they may do as they please to women. Women are viewed as chattel. Therefore they are not allowed to offer their own opinions, as that is viewed as talking back. Nor can they disobey men. Women are taught to live in submission.
Even though Islamic law requires that both partners explicitly consent to marriage, women are often forced into marriages arranged by their fathers or tribal leaders. The Constitution of Pakistan does not require anyone older that, 18 years old to have parental permission to marry. Additionally, Article 16 of the Women’s Convention states that nations must ensure that women have an equal right to marry the partner of their choice. Though these laws exist in Pakistan, if a woman chooses her husband it is often viewed as a shameful act of defiance against her family and defiles the honour of both her family and, if the family has arranged a husband, the future husband that the family has chosen. The marriage of a daughter is seen in terms of pride and honour. Thus, a woman’s honour, “purity” and demeanour are prized possessions controlled by men. Only few sections of Pakistani society allow for women to freely choose their husbands.
A documentary titled ‘Murder in Purdah’; a 28 minutes B.B.C production (1999) very effectively highlights the status of women in Pakistan, which is considered the citadel of Islam. It discusses candidly the forms of violence against women. The two main kinds of violence discussed are domestic violence, including burnings and disfiguring bodies by acid and ritual honour-killings. It also pinpoints the double standards of our police as majority of the women are put behind the bars under the Zina-Ordinance. In this documentary when a question was put to a group of males of one of the Katchi Abadis of Mardan, that why do not they let their women go outside? The answers they gave reflected their myopic and narrow-minded ideas about women. The first respondent said that the Islamic teachings restrict them to do so and there are various dangers attached to a woman’s life if she goes outside. The second respondent said that a woman’s mind is weak and she can easily be swayed unlike a man. The third respondent interestingly was of the view that it will become a common habit if he will not stop his sister from going outside. These male chauvinistic answers emphasize the ‘commodification’ of women whose role is limited to the four walls of her home and is not eligible to perform any fruitful task that might be of use in the development of the society.
The most emotional and sensitive portion of the documentary are the burnt women shown in hospitals. They are there as a result of the wrath of their husbands or the in-laws. The statistics of such reported cases were alarming. In a hospital whose name was not disclosed, seven to eight such cases per week were reported. The doctors were of the view that these women become easy victims at the hands of the males without any solid reason and only one out of ten women are fortunate enough to survive.
The documentary also stresses the fact that the principle reason as to why women become easy prey to the wrath of males is due to their low literacy rate. This low level of education in women is justified by the masses as being in accordance to the Islamic teachings. However, Islam gives equal right to both men and women to attain education
Considering the present condition of Pakistani women even such positive development for them seems to be a far-off cry, as women there do not even have the right to own their bodies, being exposed to the traditional male control over every aspect of their bodies, speech and behaviour with stoicism, as part of their Kismat (fate). Defiance of any sort translates into undermining male honour and ultimately family and community honour. Severe punishments are reported for bringing food late, for answering back or for undertaking forbidden trips etc. According to a Survey, “women in Pakistan are killed like hens; they have no way to escape and no say in what happens to them.”

Women in the Information Technology Era:

Information technology, which has been supported to a great extent by our present regime for the economic uplift of our country has the potential to improve the status of women as this is a kind of technology that is making it easier to be a woman at home than a man. Men, as we all know love to spend time outside the home, generally bragging about their feats, which may be little enough- but who cares? By contrast women are supposed to sit at home, taking care of it and tending to the children. The information technology however, is changing all that. Since it allows people to log on to their work while sitting at home and only coming in to their offices for meetings or for using confidential data that cannot be allowed to leave the office premises. This means that a woman may sit at home and take care of their children and between the naps, feeding and diapers, take breaks to get work done. But this is only possible when the women in Pakistan have the skills and the necessary expertise to use it. This needs to be started from the grassroots level, as two percent of the country’s elite using this technology would not make much of a difference. The ‘difference’ is badly required in this age of global communication and the competitive 21st century, as who ever will have the access to this knowledge will be the winner. Unless and until women are given formal education, not only there would be no change in their status but also the country would suffer in terms of social and economic development.

The role of media in Pakistan:

The role of media in Pakistan has also been lethargic in terms of improving the status of women. Pakistan television (PTV) plays have a crosscutting viewership, especially among women. However, plays mostly revolve around formula-based story lines, which cast women in either submissive roles or at the other extreme as westernized glamour girls. A recently conducted survey (2001) by a United Nations Development Programme on ‘Portrayal of women in media’ indicates that the viewers’ preferences are now tilting in favour of more gender-balanced portraying of women. The respondents of the survey feel that the negative stereotypical images of highly emotional and suppressed women should be reduced and downplayed. This is a sure sign of improvement in women’s status, as it would leave a positive impact on the male members of our society regarding the productive role of women and who might then stop considering them as mere vegetables who have no say of their own. Thus, revolution is required in the thinking pattern of the male members to change the existing notion of power. The requirement in the present scenario is not to empower one gender over the other but a balance between the two genders towards achievement of joint goals, better society and better future for the upcoming generations by being proud of one’s own culture.
The two ways through which this target can be achieved is firstly through proper commitment of the home media (TV, Radio Newspapers and Films) that has the power to mould public opinion and here the government’s support has to be unconditional. The second way is the evolutionary process through which the mothers by being independent of religion, caste or creed can instil in their children from the very beginning that both the genders are important and ‘honourable’ and have a key role to play in the society. But the problem is that this is only possible when women are educated and supported by the government as equal and feeling beings to benefit from the latest technology and contribute efficiently to the country’s uplift.

Forms of Violence:

Women in Pakistan face the threat of multiple forms of violence, including sexual violence by family members, strangers, and state agents; domestic abuse, including spousal murder and being burned, disfigured with acid, beaten, and threatened; ritual honour killings; and custodial abuse and torture. In its annual report for 1997, the nongovernmental Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) reported, “The worst victims were women of the poor and middle classes. Their resource-lessness not only made them the primary target of the police and the criminals, it also rendered them more vulnerable to oppressive customs and mores inside homes and outside.
The most endemic form of violence faced by women is violence in the home. For 1997, it is reported that “domestic violence remained a pervasive phenomenon. The supremacy of the male and subordination of the female assumed to be part of the culture and even to have sanction of the religion made violence by one against the other in a variety of its forms an accepted and pervasive feature of domestic life.” A United Nations report on women echoes this point, explaining the nature of domestic violence generally in terms of the structure of the family:
Comprehensive studies on domestic violence indicate that domestic violence is a structural rather than causal problem. It is the structure of the family that leads to or legitimizes the acts, emotions or phenomenon that are identified as the “causes” of domestic violence under the causal analysis. This family structure is a “structure that is mirrored and confirmed in the structure of society, which condones the oppression of women and tolerates male violence as one of the instruments in the perpetuation of this power balance.”
Estimates of the percentage of women who experience domestic violence in Pakistan range from 70 to upwards of 90 percent. “The extreme forms it took included driving a woman to suicide or engineering an `accident’ (frequently the bursting of a kitchen stove) to cause her death . . . usually . . . when the husband, often in collaboration with his side of the family, felt that the dower or other gifts he had expected from his in-laws in consequence of the marriage were not forthcoming, or/and he wanted to marry again, or he expected an inheritance from the death of his wife.” Police follow-up on these cases was negligible, with only six suspects taken into custody out of the 215 cases reported in Lahore newspapers during the year 1997, there was not a single conviction in a “stove-death” case in the country. The Lahore press also reported 265 homicides against women in the local area resulting from other forms of intra-family violence. In the majority of cases, husbands and in-laws were responsible for the murders, while in other cases the perpetrators were brothers and fathers.

Sexual assault is also alarmingly common in Pakistan. It is estimated that in 2007 at least eight women, more than half of them minors, were raped every twenty-four hours nationwide. The high incidence of sexual assault in the country is partly fostered by the societal subordination of women to men, by the custom of avenging oneself upon one’s enemies by raping their women, who are seen as repositories of family honour, and by the impunity with which these crimes are carried out.

There is no question that violence against women is an enormous problem in Pakistan that is exacerbated and perpetuated by the government’s inadequate response to the problem. In fact, the state’s response to domestic violence in Pakistan is so minimal and cases of intra-family violence are so rarely addressed in any way by the criminal justice system that it was not possible for us to achieve one of our research goals for this report: that is, to track specific domestic violence criminal suits in order to identify larger patterns in the prosecution of domestic violence. We found that despite the staggering levels of intra-family violence against women, it is widely perceived by the law enforcement system and society at large as a private family matter, not subject to government intervention let alone criminal sanction. At present there is virtually no prosecution of crimes of assault and battery when perpetrated by male family members against women; even intra-family murder and attempted murder rarely are prosecuted. Consequently, much of this report deals almost exclusively with identifiable trends in the state response to non-familial sexual assault.

The different elements involve that result in the state’s total failure to provide protection and effective remedies to women victims of violence. It takes a comprehensive look at the way the criminal justice system deals with cases of violence against women, focusing on the interaction between the police and legal establishments and the medico-legal system. Often overlooked, the maintenance of an efficient and responsive medico-legal system is a crucial part of the state’s responsibility to ensure that survivors of assault have an effective remedy and that perpetrators of crimes are brought to justice. The current procedures for obtaining medical evidence in assault cases, particularly in cases of sexual assault of women, are woefully inadequate, neither ensuring that perpetrators are convicted nor providing women with appropriate treatment. Other barriers encountered by women victims of violence who attempt to navigate the criminal justice system include inveterate and widespread bias against them and their cases, official incompetence and corruption at all levels, systemic lack of professionalism and administrative inefficiency.

Legal Analysis:

Pakistani society and the judicial system often view violence against women in Pakistan as either non-existent or limited to extreme acts. Though the number of violent incidents against women is increasing, the Government of Pakistan continues to condone these acts by failing to hold perpetrators accountable. This lack of accountability undermines gender equality within society and the judicial system. As a result, Pakistani women are unable to live free from fear and submission.
Gender-bias perpetuates violence against women. Men often believe that if a woman is defiant then there is nothing morally or legally wrong with beating or even killing her. If men do engage in violence, they justifiably believe that they will not be prosecuted. The failure of the justice system to provide women with adequate venues for redress against their perpetrators continues to leave women with little justice. The Government of Pakistan’s failures to educate the public concerning the reality of violence and discrimination against women, to train those in the criminal justice system about these real and profound issues, to remove discriminatory laws against women and to enact and enforce specific laws to protect women are all evidence of Pakistan’s failure to protect women from discrimination and violence.
Women who report rape or sexual harassment encounter a series of obstacles. These include not only the police, who resist filing their claims and misreport their statements but also the medico-legal doctors, who focus more on their virginity status and lack the training and expertise to conduct adequate examinations. Furthermore, women who file charges open themselves up to the possibility of being prosecuted for illicit sex if they fail to ‘prove’ rape under the 1979 Hudood Ordinance which criminalizes adultery and fornication. As a result, when women victims of violence resort to the judicial system for redress, they are more likely to find further abuse and victimization. As far as domestic violence is concerned, it is the most under-reported crime because it is generally condoned by social customs and considered as a private family matter.

Pakistani Domestic Law

A. Constitution:

Gender equality is specifically guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan under Articles 25 (equality before law and equal protection under the law) and 27 (non-discrimination based on gender alone). The Constitution additionally affords the protection of marriage, family, the mother and the child as well as ensuring “full participation of women in all spheres of national life.” Though these articles specifically prohibit gender discrimination and guarantee the equality of men and women, discriminatory social traditions and the Pakistani interpretation of Islamic law for the most part render Constitutional guarantees meaningless

B. The Zina Ordinance:

In 1979, under the rule of General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan enacted the Hudood Ordinance. This ordinance was passed as an effort to Islamicize Pakistan’s legal system. As a provision of the Hudood Ordinance, the Zina Ordinance defines “rape” in terms of Islamic law; that is as being sexual relations between individuals who are not married whether it is by either force or consent. However, neither statutory rape nor marital rape is considered a crime under the Zina Ordinance. All sexual relations outside of marriage are essentially considered a criminal act.
The Zina Ordinance is divided into two categories, Zina and zina-bil-jabr. Zina is the crime of non-marital sexual relations and adultery while zina-bil-jabr is the category of forced intercourse. Those found guilty of either category can receive harsh punishments, including flogging and death. The death penalty however has never been carried out against a perpetrator under the Zina Ordinance. While the Zina Ordinance was created to impose morality upon society and, in essence, to protect women from rape, it has become a discriminatory law against women. It often leaves victims of rape without justice or, in some cases; it puts the victims themselves in jail.
Evidentiary requirements under the Zina Ordinance are very strict. Women who accuse a man of zina-bil-jabr (rape) must prove without a reasonable doubt that the man (or men) raped her. Due to the apparent bias within the judicial system and society in general, many women fail to even report the rape. If a victim cannot prove to the judicial system that she was raped, she faces the chance that she will end up in jail for adultery or non-marital intercourse. Under Article 17 of the Qanun-e-Shahadat (law of Evidence) Order of 1984, Pakistan’s law of evidence, a woman’s testimony is not weighed equally to that of a man. Under the Hudood Ordinance, in order for a rapist to receive “hadd,” (the maximum punishment provided for under the Quran), four adult, good Muslim men must witness the “act of penetration” itself and testify against the perpetrator. Thus, if a woman does not have male witnesses but does have female witnesses, their testimony would not satisfy the evidentiary requirement and the perpetrator may be acquitted.
Furthermore, if a woman does not have physical signs of rape or of a struggle such as bruises and scratches, she is often seen as having not resisted. The judicial system oftentimes views the woman not as a victim but instead an “immoral” woman. These biases are a direct violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of equality before the law. As discussed previously, if a woman accuses a man of rape and the man is acquitted, the rape victim could be found guilty of violating zina. By reporting the rape, a woman has essentially “admitted” to either extra-marital or non-marital intercourse. According to a Survey, more than one-third of all Pakistani women in prison are being held due to having been accused or found guilty of zina. The threat of being prosecuted discourages victims from filing complaints. In addition, Article 151(4) of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order of 1984 allows the “immoral character” of the victim is allowed to be admitted into evidence Women fear that their families and communities will feel dishonored due to these allegations, thus leading them to often fear for their lives. Women who have filed complaints of rape have often been murdered by family members on the basis that she “dishonoured” her family. These evidentiary obstacles prevent women from being ensured justice. Furthermore, these obstacles encourage violence against women due to the impunity given to male perpetrators.

C. Domestic Violence and Marriage:

Domestic violence is not explicitly prohibited in Pakistani domestic law. Due to this lack of formal recognition, the judicial system, from police officials to Pakistani courts, tends to view domestic violence as a private affair and not open to legal scrutiny. Instances of domestic violence are usually dealt with under the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance of 1990. This ordinance is applicable to crimes that involve physical harm to another including murder, attempted murder and intentionally or unintentionally hurting another individual. Qisas, or retribution, authorizes punishment equal to the crime and has strict evidentiary requirements. If these evidentiary requirements are not met, the court itself can decide the punishment. On the other hand, the punishment of Diyat, or compensation, results in the perpetrator financially compensating the victim or the victim’s family for the crime.
In cases involving domestic violence- if they ever make it to the courts- the perpetrator’s punishment is often left to be decided by the victim or the family of the victim. The victim or family member can ask that the perpetrator be punished or only that the victim or family members be compensated. This law has been criticized as being discriminatory against women. Under Article 306(c) of the Pakistani Penal Code, if a man murders his wife and they have children, her children cannot ask for Qisas (essentially the death penalty) for her murder. In these circumstances, the maximum sentence that can be given when a man murders his wife is fourteen years. Furthermore, many see a father financially compensating (Diyat) his children for the loss of their mother merely as “being a mockery.” Male family members and husbands continue to use the defence of “grave and sudden provocation” in cases of honor killings and are thereby able to avoid punishment by death. Under Article 302(c) of the Pakistani Penal Code, if a family member other than the husband kills a woman they may receive a maximum sentence of twenty-five years. Additionally, many courts have ruled that if a man kills his wife who was found to be in a compromising situation or was thought to be committing adultery, the husband cannot be subjected to the death penalty because the victim was not “innocent.” Oftentimes, as discussed in the previous section of this report, women murdered in the name of honor are victims of mere allegations. A dead woman is not able to testify as to her innocence.
In addition to the very real fear of being killed, if a woman chooses to marry against her family or tribe’s consent, she takes the chance of being prosecuted under the Zina Ordinance. Many women and men have married against their parents’ wishes only to find themselves arrested by the police and being charged with Zina by the woman’s family members. Many couples have had to prove to the Court that they are legally married in order to avoid being punished under Zina.

D. The Judicial System:

In addition to Pakistani laws being discriminatory, the judicial system condones and exacerbates the problem by failing to view violence against women as a serious violation of women’s human rights. The judicial system, including but not limited to police officials, prosecutors, defence attorneys, judicial medical examiners and judges, is plagued by gender bias. This bias is reflected in the number of violent crimes against women that go unpunished, let alone investigated. The failure of the judicial system to protect women who are victims of violence as well as its failure to prosecute the perpetrators of this violence has perpetuated society’s views that women’s rights are less valuable than men’s rights. Gender-bias within the judicial system begins with the police. Police officials often fail to file reports, lose reports, or even “persuade” women not to file a report through harassment or even abuse. In the unlikely event that a report is even filed, the police often conduct improper investigations or fail to even investigate the crime at all. As a result of these inadequate or non-existent investigations, men who have been reported to have committed these violent acts are often not arrested or charged with the crime.
A prevailing view among police officials is that women who have been raped are either scorned lovers or fear family reprisals, thus they “fabricate” a story to frame the men. Police officials often view domestic violence, including honor killings, as a private matter to be resolved within the family or tribe, not the criminal justice system. An example of the police’s bias towards women resonates from the statement to Human Rights Watch by a chief officer in Lahore:
Women have a lot of rights… It is wrong of courts to believe women so that the poor man ends up in jail

Though Pakistan has women’s police stations that are staffed by female personnel, gender bias remains rampant within the police force. Police personnel receive little if any gender sensitization training to assist female victims of violence and discrimination. Women are left fearing that if they are brave enough to make a report to the police, the police will harass them or turn them away.

Courts are always biased in solving such matters, and in such cases courts often issue gender-biased decisions. Many judges uphold the “laws of Islam” (as interpreted by Pakistan) over the Constitution’s guarantee of non-discrimination and equality under the law. Gender-bias and the enforcement of Islamic law by judges, specifically concerning the issue of honor killings, has been explained as,

The Koranic verse 34 of Sura Al-Nisa establishes men as the “custodians of women;” hence a man who kills another man for defiling the honor of his wife or daughter is protecting his property and acting in self-defense.
Quoting Sura Al-Nisa, the judge concluded, “I am of the view that the appellant,
as the custodian of honor of his wife, had the right to kill the deceased while he
was engaged in [a] sex act with his wife and he had not earned liability of qisas or
tazir or even diyat, and is hereby acquitted.

The lack of protection by the police and punishment by the courts exemplifies that women in Pakistan are often left to live in fear and subjugation. Women who are victims of violence often have no place to turn. They cannot turn to their families, as they fear that they will be killed for “dishonoring” their families. They cannot turn to the police, as they fear being harassed or ignored. They cannot turn to the court system, as they fear that the perpetrator will not be punished or, worse, that the victims themselves will be punished. The Government of Pakistan is ultimately responsible for the failure of these sectors to protect women and to guarantee women their fundamental human right to be free from violence, discrimination and inhumane treatment.

Judicial Remedies under Pakistani Domestic Law:

Gender-based violence is a critical issue affecting the lives of an overwhelming majority of Pakistani women. Pakistan must take serious and prompt action to stop these abuses and to ensure justice for the victims. While Pakistan insists that discrimination and violence against women are not prevalent in its society, statistics show that the number of violent acts committed against women continues to rise. Though there are domestic remedies available to women in Pakistan, the judicial system is plagued by gender-bias and the prioritization of custom over constitutional law. Women can continue to file reports against their perpetrators as the law allows and attempt to proceed with their complaint in the judicial system. Unfortunately, most women do not proceed past the reporting stage- if they even make it that far. Though Pakistani law provides judicial remedies, in reality women are not given equal access to the judicial system nor equal treatment within the system. Women who do attempt to use the judicial system often fear for their lives due to threats and discrimination. More often than often not, it is futile for female victims of violence to fight for justice and to expect
legal redress from the Pakistani judicial system.

Conclusion:

While the debate concerning cultural relativism and human rights continues within the international human rights community, many women continue to suffer in the name of custom. Though various human rights conventions and declarations acknowledge the issue of culture relativism, violence and discrimination against women are so universally condemned that the issue should transcend cultural differences.
Women in Pakistan continue to be systematically discriminated against by society, the judicial system and the government. This abuse stems from religious interpretations and cultural views. Religious and community leaders within Pakistan argue that the international community is trying to change their culture and religion. However, Pakistan must realize that within these religious and cultural groups there is another group, women, who are struggling – with the approval of the international community– to advance their own rights and protect themselves from violence. There is a fine line between promoting one group’s rights while diminishing another’s. Culture is not static and is continually evolving. History has shown that cultural practices can evolve without abandoning the culture. The international community must take action to help women in Pakistan by condemning the Pakistani government and its failure to comply with international treaty and customary law. A woman should be guaranteed her inherent right to live her life free from fear and violence. Women in Pakistan must not be denied justice and protection under the law. The government of Pakistan must be held accountable.