PESHAWAR
\nAn average of 7.6 women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa approach the police every day to report incidents of violence, including murder, honour killings, rape, gang rape, domestic abuse, child marriage and suicide, yet the majority of these cases fail to receive adequate media attention, revealed a latest analysis by the Aurat Foundation here on Tuesday.
\nThe findings were released under the Rule of Law Project, supported by UN Women and the European Union, based on data collected from January 1 to November 15, 2025.
\nThe report highlights a disturbing contradiction between the high frequency of violence and the limited public reporting of such crimes.
\nCalling for urgent collective action, Aurat Foundation urged media organisations to report violence against women consistently and ethically.
\nAccording to the analysis, leading newspapers covered only a small fraction of the violence cases documented by police. While incidents of murder, honour killing and rape did appear in news columns, cases related to domestic abuse, suicides and child marriages were either not reported at all or mentioned briefly, with little information on investigations, arrests or legal proceedings.
\nMedia reporting, the Foundation noted, remained largely event-driven and lacked continuity.
\nThe report further revealed that 16 districts of KP did not have a single case of violence against women reported in the print media during the review period, while six districts recorded only one reported case each.
\nAcross 10 categories of violence, some categories received no media coverage at all. Of the 186 total media-reported incidents, murder emerged as the most frequently covered crime with 104 cases, followed by 19 suicide cases, 17 honour killings, seven gang rapes and 13 rape cases.
\nGeographically, 124 of the reported cases originated from rural areas, compared to only 37 from urban centres, highlighting the heightened vulnerability and invisibility of women in remote regions.
\nThe situation is even more alarming in the digital space, where social media pages with millions of followers across Swat, Mardan, Hazara, Parachinar and other regions show almost no consistent reporting on violence against women and girls (VAWG).
\nThe Foundation warned that acquittal rates in such cases was also very high due to certain factors including delayed investigations, weak evidence management, survivor intimidation and social pressure.
\nIn many cases the victims were forced to withdraw cases before reaching trial.
\nIt also urged law enforcement agencies to strengthen survivor-friendly mechanisms, and judicial and prosecution authorities to improve case handling and evidence management.
\nThe report noted that cultural stigma, fear of retaliation, lack of legal aid, limited psychosocial support and family pressure discourage many women from reporting abuse in the first place.
\nIt called on government institutions to establish integrated data systems and on community leaders and civil society to challenge harmful social norms and honour-based silence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR An average of 7.6 women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa approach the police every day to report incidents of violence, including murder, honour killings, rape, gang rape, domestic abuse, child marriage and suicide, yet the majority of these cases fail to receive adequate media attention, revealed a latest analysis by the Aurat Foundation here on Tuesday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-519081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n