Gender-Based Violence & Legislation in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: A Roundtable Conference on “Gender-Based Violence and it Legislation in Pakistan,” was conducted by Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in collaboration with Chief Commissioner Office, Islamabad. and was participated by Additional Commissioner and Director Women Development Islamabad Administration, Nishaa Ishtiak; Valeria Khan of ASF; DIG Operations Islamabad Syed Mustafa Tanveer; Nabeela Malick, chairperson INGAD; and Hafiz Ahsan Khokhar, lawyer.
President IPRI Dr Amb Raza Muhammad opened the debate by highlighting the importance that Islam has laid on gender equality, and the values that Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) preached in terms of women empowerment.The participants noted that the level of discrimination and marginalisation prevalent in the society is more owing to the adverse impact of culture, and the medieval mores of patriarchy. This is why the society is ranted with gender-based violence in the contexts of sexual, psychological and physical realms, and no amount of legislation and good governance can control it in toto.It was underscored that there are a plethora of laws to deal with any of the eventualities in terms of violence in the gender proximity, but either they lack implementation mechanisms or the will of the concerned administrations. It was pointed out that laws are free from gender contextualisation, and anyone either it is a woman or a man can be a victim of abuse and violence, and the law is equally applicable.
The roundtable delegates agreed that violence exists in our society, and cannot be denied under any assumptions. The scale of domestic violence, it was noted, is mostly underreported, and women at times shy away from standing out to be recognised fearing reprisal. This phenomenon can only be checked by educating the society and creating more awareness in strata across the board.The role of power dynamics in gender sex was also highlighted, and it was agreed that it is one of the main reasons behind abuse as the perpetuator can get away with any wrongdoing.The need of the hour is also to shun the assumptions that empowering the women and talking about the taboos of sex, violence and diseases related to women such as Fistula are part of so-called western conspiracy.The need for ensuring the culture sensitivity of law was also noted, in an attempt to do away with marginalization and discrimination of women in cases such as inheritance.A separate prosecution wing for women was also proposed at all administrative levels to help empower the women to report abuse, and speak up against it.Empowering the conventional Dispute Resolution Committee (DSR) or the Jirga system is indispensable to address GBV issues in tribal and rural areas, it was noted.The speakers agreed that many of the policies are not formulated on research and ground realities, but on whims and wishes, which leads to its negative impact sooner than later. They also called for capacity building to implement laws, to address the violence enigma in the society.
