IRIN Focus on domestic violence

Domestic violence in male-dominated Pakistan is hardly new, but the 1998 case of Zahida Parveen from Jatli, a small village near the eastern city of Rawalpindi is particularly horrific. Suspecting his wife of seeing another man, Mehmood Iqbal bound his pregnant wife’s hands and feet with a rope, gouged her eyes out with a rod and then brutally cut off her nose and ears. Parveen left for the United States on Sunday to seek much needed medical treatment, but her departure leaves behind a festering social problem for Pakistan demanding far greater attention than is presently being provided by government and civic organisations. The case has highlighted a greater need for women’s groups, human rights activists and the government to work together in an effort to bring about greater awareness of this global issue. “There is a lot of domestic violence in Pakistan,” Minister for Women’s Development and Social Welfare Dr Attiyah Inayatullah told IRIN on Monday. “This is customary and due to the super ordination of the patriarchal system in this country, compounded by illiteracy and ignorance... While we don’t have any reliable data, from the small amount of reports and surveys conducted, some 60 to 80 percent of girls and women in Pakistan experience some form of abuse, either minor or major, during their lifetime.” According to figures provided by the Pakistani NGO Struggle for Change in Islamabad (SACH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), however, it is estimated that as many as 12,000 to 18,000 cases of women-battering occur annually in Pakistan. The figures show that 80 percent of violence is of a domestic nature, irrespective of class, education, religion or whether it is in the rural or urban areas. The report went on to say that violence was not only committed by the husbands, but also by other members of the husband’s family - particularly in matters of dowry and other family disputes. There were quite a few cases of extreme violence reported including damaging the private parts of women, throwing acid on their face, or cutting off their noses as a way of showing they were dishonoured. Furthermore, women were reported to be burnt alive by family members due to personal vendetta, with many such deaths as often misreported as those resulting from accidents with kerosene oil burners or stoves, the report said. Speaking at a solidarity meeting on Saturday between ministry officials, NGO representatives, media, victims of violence and civil society representatives who bid Parveen farewell at the government-funded and NGO-managed Crisis Centre for Women in Distress in Islamabad (CCW), the same organisation that took her in following the attack, Inayatullah expressed her satisfaction over the successful NGO-government crisis centre partnership and reiterated her desire to replicate the pilot programme elsewhere. According to Zaman Islam, project manager for the centre serving Islamabad and the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi: “Since December 1997 to date, we have registered 1,050 cases of domestic violence to whom we have provided medical, legal and social counselling.” Regarding the government’s stance on domestic violence and the Parveen case itself, Inayatullah told IRIN: “All local costs have been met by the government of Pakistan on the instructions of Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf himself.” She added: “The government of Pakistan, as a matter of policy, recognises that domestic violence is the most pervasive violation of women’s human rights in Pakistan.” Asked what specific measures are being taken on the government level, she said women need security and justice. “Under the district government set-up, we are putting in every district, in a phased manner, a crisis centre and a shelter home for women in distress.” In addition, “we have asked a government commission on the state of women to review existing laws and to determine if they need amendment or whether we need new laws whereby domestic violence is criminalized.” She admitted, however, that laws themselves are not enough. “Awareness is a major problem in Pakistan today and the case of Zahida Parveen highlights that,” Naheeda Mehboob Ilahi, the lawyer and human rights activist who represented Parveen against her husband in court, told IRIN. “Many wives in Pakistan from the lower to middle class are made to believe early on in life that it is their husbands right to beat them,” she said. “Women are taught for the husband, it is quite natural for him, for whatever reason, to give a slap at the end of the day.” While Ilahi admitted that there had been some relief for abused women in Pakistan, particularly in larger urban areas where such shelters as CCW do in fact exist, the same can not be said about remoter areas of the country where such facilities are non-existent. “Women in remote areas cannot go to these crisis centres so where does she turn to? If she goes to a relative’s seeking refuge, due to financial constraints on that family she is often sent back to the home where the beatings continue.” Hence, creating a vicious circle in which there is no escape for the victim. “The system is not helpful to the victim - it is more helpful to the accused,” Ilahi added. “The system has encouraged domestic violence to increase in Pakistan and it is on the rise given the reported number of cases we are now seeing.” Ilahi said. “There is a weakness in the system ... primarily in the justice system. In cases of domestic violence there needs to be direction or legislature directing the law enforcing agencies to send the case to court in the shortest period of time, calling for an early decision. People should have confidence in the system which they do not at the moment so their options are limited.” The OMCT report supported Ilahi’s sentiments, adding: “the government has not taken any steps to end ‘de jure’ and ‘de facto’ discrimination against women. Domestic violence is considered as a family affair and the state has not taken any measures to ensure victims the access to just and effective remedies.” According to the report: “While abusive spouses may be charged with assault, cases are rarely filed. Only a small percentage of all cases are reported to the police who very often return battered women to their abusive husbands.” Asked if the government was doing enough regarding the issue of domestic violence in Pakistan, CCW chairman Surriya Shehryar was more thoughtful in her approach telling IRIN: “it’s never enough in a developing country.” In terms of raising awareness, however, “You need to give some of the responsibility to the community and individual, and not just expect the government to take care of it.” she said. “The community must shoulder some of the responsibility towards the alleviation of some of the economic pressures and the empowerment of women in Pakistan.” Meanwhile, while the issue of domestic violence in Pakistan festers, so too does the case of Zahida Parveen against her husband. Sentenced to 14 years in prison and a US $17,000 fine, Ilahi has already filed a revision petition for the enhancement of the original sentence against Mehmood Iqbal before the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench. “This case has opened the eyes of many people in Pakistan to something they would prefer to keep their eyes closed to,” Ilahi told IRIN.