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The prevalence of rape in Pakistan, the apparent officially sanctioning, and the official failure to punish rape, are matters of concern in the international human rights and women's rights communities. Among types of rape that appear officially sanctioned, or go unpunished are "honor rapes" and rapes by police and members of the armed forces. The prevalence of rape received international attention after the sexual assault of Mukhtaran Bibi in 2002.

Magnitude of the problem

Rape in Pakistan came to international attention after the politically sanctioned gang rape of Mukhtaran Bibi. The group War Against Rape (WAR) has documented the severity of the rape problem in Pakistan and of police indifference to it. According to Women's Studies professor Shahla Haeri, rape in Pakistan is "often institutionalized and has the tacit and at times the explicit approval of the state". According to a study by Human Rights Watch, there is a rape once every two hours and a gang rape every eight. Asma Jahangir, a lawyer and co-founder of the women's rights group Women's Action Forum, estimates that 72 percent of women in police custody in Pakistan are physically or sexually abused. In a study into Child sexual abuse in Rawalpindi and Islamabad out of a sample of 300 children 17% claimed to have been abused and in 1997 one child a day was reported as raped, gang raped or kidnapped for sexual gratification. There was international condemnation of former president Pervez Musharraf after comments he made during an interview with the Washington Post in 2005. He said "You must understand the environment in Pakistan. This has become a money-making concern. A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped."

The legal system

Honor killings, burnings, and rapes in Pakistan can be seen as indicating inadequate legal protection for women. In 1979 Pakistan passed into law the Hudood Ordinance, which made all forms of extra-marital sex, including rape, a crime against the state. During the time the Hudood Ordinance remained on the statute books, Human Rights Watch documented extensive sexual abuse against female bonded laborers.

Notable cases

Recently various women and teenage girls have begun to speak out after being assaulted. Going against the tradition that a woman should suffer in silence, they have lobbied news outlets and politicians. A recent report from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated that in 2009 46 percent of unlawful female killings in Pakistan were "honor killings".

• Kainat Soomro was a 13-year-old schoolgirl when she was kidnapped and gang raped for four days. Her protest has led to the murder of her brother, a death sentence from the elders of her village, and threats from the rapists, who after four years still remain at large.
• In 2002, 30-year-old Mukhtaran Bibi was gang raped on the orders of the village council as an "honor rape" after allegations that her 12-year-old brother had had sexual relations with a woman from a higher caste.
• In 2005 a woman claimed to have been gang raped by four police officers for refusing to pay them a bribe so her husband would be released from prison. One officer was arrested and three have disappeared.
• A 23-year-old woman in Faisalabad made public accusations against the police, saying her husband had been arrested for creating forged documents; she alleges she was raped on the orders of the chief of police for her actions. The officer was suspended but not arrested.
• In 2012 three members of the Border Police were remanded into custody for raping five women aged between fifteen and twenty-one. The women claim they were taken from a picnic area to the police station in Dera Ghazi Khan, where the police filmed themselves sexually assaulting the women.

Historical accounts

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, it is estimated that between 200,000 and 400,000 women and girls were sexually assaulted by the Pakistan armed forces and the Al-Badr ("the moon") and the Al-Shams ("the sun") militias that supported them.

During the partition of India rape was a frequent occurrence with rapists using slogans like Hindustan Zindabad and Pakistan Zindabad which were tattooed on the bodies of women who were raped during the partition.

See also

• Recognition of marital rape in Pakistani law
• Human trafficking in Pakistan
• Domestic violence in Pakistan

References

1. Laird, Kathleen Fenner (2008). Whose Islam? Pakistani Women's Political Action Groups Speak Ou. Proquest. p. 101. ISBN 9780549465560.
2. ^ Khan, Aamer Ahmed (8 September, 2005). "Pakistan's real problem with rape". BBC. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Khan" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
3. ^ Karim, Farhad (1996). Contemporary Forms of Slavery in Pakistan. Human Rights Watch. p. 72. ISBN 978-1564321541. Cite error: The named reference "Karim" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
4. Haeri, Shahla (2002). No Shame for the Sun: Lives of Professional Pakistani Women (1st ed.). Syracuse University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0815629603.
5. Gosselin, Denise Kindschi (2009). Heavy Hands: An Introduction to the Crime of Intimate and Family Violence (4th ed.). Prentice Hall. p. 13. ISBN 978-0136139034.
6. Foerstel, Karen (2009). Issues in Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class: Selections. Sage. p. 337. ISBN 978-1412979672.
7. Goodwin, Jan (2002). Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World. Plume. p. 51. ISBN 978-0452283770.
8. Rasheed, Shaireen (2004). Jyotsna Pattnaik (ed.). Childhood In South Asia: A Critical Look At Issues, Policies, And Programs. Information Age. p. 183. ISBN 978-1593110208.
9. Catherwood, Christopher (2006). Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide. Facts On File. p. 340. ISBN 978-0816060016. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
10. Datta, Rekha (2010). Beyond Realism: Human Security in India and Pakistan in the Twenty-First Century. Lexington. p. 116. ISBN 978-0739121559.
11. Ross, Mary P. (1997). Laura L. O'Toole, Jessica R. Schiffman (ed.). Gender Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York University Press. p. 225. ISBN 978-0814780411. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
12. Afsaruddin, Asma (2000). Hermeneutics and Honor: Negotiating Female Public Space in Islamic/Ate Societies. Harvard University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0932885210.
13. Nosheen, Habiba; Hilke Schellmann (28 September 2011). "Refusing to Kill Daughter, Pakistani Family Defies Tradition, Draws Anger". The Atlantic.
14. Crilly, Rob (26 December, 2010). "Pakistan's rape victim who dared to fight back". The Telegraph. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |newspaper= (help)
15. Greenberg, Jerrold S. "Marital Rape". Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality (4th revised ed.). Jones and Bartlett. ISBN 978-0763776602. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
16. "Pakistan policemen accused of drunken rape". New Zealand Herald. AFP. 22 June, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. Saikia, Yasmin (2011). Elizabeth D. Heineman (ed.). Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones: From the Ancient World to the Era of Human Rights. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-8122-4318-5.
18. Riedel, Bruce O. (2011). Deadly embrace: Pakistan, America, and the future of the global jihad. Brookings Institution. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-8157-0557-4.
19. Schmid, Alex (2011). The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research. Routledge. p. 600. ISBN 978-0-415-41157-8.
20. Tomsen, Peter (2011). Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers. Public Affairs. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-58648-763-8.
21. Ritu Menon; Kamla Bhasin (1998). Borders & Boundaries: Women in India's Partition. Rutgers University Press. p. 43. ISBN 9780813525525.

• Rape in Pakistan
• Violence against women in Pakistan
• Human rights abuses in Pakistan