The state of criminal justice system in Pakistan is abysmal to say the least. Consider the figures: a 0.09 percent conviction rate against 14, 212 cases of human rights violations reported nationwide in the last year. Punjab tops the list of no-conviction offenders. The difference between Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (which comes in at number 2) is almost double. Balochistan and Islamabad follow.
Rape, honour killings and domestic violence fall within the gambit of human rights violations. All of which have a predominant gender bias towards women. Maybe this is a coincidence. Maybe not. Either way, though, it is bad news for the country’s women. Yet as with all things women-related in Pakistan — hope for action only comes when men are directly impacted.
Given that Punjab is the worst offender this means extremely bad news for the provincial government. For these statistics come just a year after the much-touted Women Protection Against Violence Act. A piece of legislation, it must be noted, that is glaring in its failure to criminalise violence against women. Meaning that when it comes to punishment, the Pakistan Penal Code provides relief. The latter treats such crimes as occurring between two private individuals and not against the state. To deny the link between non-criminalisation and exceedingly low conviction rates would be imprudent.
All four provinces have shown willingness to initiate legislation safeguarding women’s human rights. Sindh and Balochistan passed domestic violence laws in 2013 and 2014, respectively. KP drew up bill last year but chose to submit it to the Council of Islamic Ideology for referral.
And herein lies the rub. The provinces cannot keep using the threat of backlash from the religious right as justification for watered down protections for women. For, we have been here before. Most notably, with Gen Musharraf’s Women Protection Act more than a decade ago. Back then he was fighting the MMA government, which had denounced it as tantamount to promoting “free sex zones”. The result? The bill was rushed through Parliament with key provisions for inheritance and divorce blatantly omitted. It was a win for Musharraf only. He was able to play this card whenever he was accused of going soft on the mullahs, who had just seen the then NWFP pass the Hasba Bill, implementing Sharia law in that province.
