(PAKISTAN)
Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News) [Hong Kong]
June 25, 2026
By Anee Muskan
At its core, gender-based violence is not only a law-and-order issue but also a structural one
The month of June was marked by incidents of violence against women in Pakistan.
It began with the reported murder of a 58-year-old woman on June 3 after she was allegedly killed by her husband for refusing to have sex with him.
The 64-year-old retired serviceman, who surrendered to police, confessed he was driven to anger when his wife refused and struck her fatally with an iron rod.
In another case on June 5, Dr. Mahnoor Nasir, a female surgeon in Quetta, was allegedly attacked while on duty by the hospital lift operator, who reportedly hurled acid at her.
Preliminary investigations revealed the attacker was harassing her for several months, and she repeatedly rejected his advances, which angered him.
This case became a topic for discussion on social media, with some netizens trying to speculate and rationalize the circumstances leading up to the crime.
This raised broader concerns about victim-blaming in cases of gender-based violence.
In patriarchal societies, a woman’s “no” can easily trigger a violent reaction from a man. Saying “no” may be interpreted as insubordination or a challenge to men’s honor, triggering severe retaliation.
A significant body of evidence highlights the widespread nature of intimate partner violence (IPV) globally and across South Asia.
Approximately 33 percent of ever-married women aged 15–49 have experienced some form of spousal violence, including physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, according to the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2017–18.
This nearly decade-old data is the latest available from a nationally representative survey, as the government continues working on an updated data collection cycle.
Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
Similar patterns are observed across South Asia. India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019–21) reports that roughly 29 percent of ever-married women have experienced spousal violence.
In Bangladesh, the national surveys indicate high levels of intimate partner violence, while research from Nepal highlights similar concerns, particularly linked to family control over marriage and relationships.
While definitions and methodologies differ across countries, the data consistently indicate a high prevalence of gender-based violence across the region.
In South Asia, incidents where women face violence after asserting autonomy or refusing advances continue to surface, though they differ in form and visibility across countries.
In India, the National Crime Records Bureau identifies cruelty by husband or relatives as one of the most common categories of crimes against women, while NFHS-5 data highlights widespread spousal violence.
In Bangladesh, Demographic and Health Survey findings have recorded high lifetime prevalence of intimate partner violence, with studies linking cases to household control, dowry disputes, and relationship refusal.
In Nepal, research by international organizations has documented violence linked to inter-caste relationships and women’s autonomy in marriage decisions.
Across South Asia, women’s decision-making, particularly around education, marriage, career, and mobility, continues to be shaped by strong familial and social control.
From choices regarding marriage and relationships to broader questions of independence, many aspects of women’s lives are influenced or negotiated within family and community structures.
In some contexts, cultural norms — sometimes reinforced through selective interpretations of social or religious authority — can contribute to expectations of obedience and restraint placed on women.
In Sri Lanka, marital rape is recognised only under limited legal conditions where spouses are separated, while in parts of India and Bangladesh, marital consent remains a contested legal and social issue.
These legal frameworks continue to shape broader societal understandings of consent within marriage.
In Pakistan, recent legal debates and proposed reforms around marital rape have been highlighted by rights advocates as part of efforts to strengthen recognition of women’s autonomy within marriage.
In September 2014, in Buner district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a 40-year-old female schoolteacher was shot dead in front of her father after reportedly refusing a marriage proposal, according to local media reports.
In 2024, in Mardan, again in KP, 22-year-old Rabia was reportedly killed by relatives in an “honor killing” months after she defied family pressure and married by choice through a court marriage.
In April 2018, in Sialkot in Punjab province, Asima Yaqoob, a Christian woman, suffered severe burns in an acid attack after refusing a marriage proposal and later died of her injuries.
In the same month in Gujrat, also in Punjab, three sisters were injured in an acid attack after one of them rejected a marriage proposal.
These cases, as reported regularly in the media and documented by rights organizations, have been widely discussed in the context of women’s autonomy and violence following refusal or assertion of choice.
Violence against women in South Asia cannot be understood as isolated acts of individual aggression. In many documented cases, it reflects deeply embedded social norms around control, honor, and entitlement within intimate and family relationships.
When a woman refuses sex, rejects a proposal, or asserts autonomy, that refusal is sometimes interpreted not as a personal boundary but as a challenge to authority or honor. It is within this framework that violence can, in some cases, follow.
Another persistent issue is the normalization of victim-blaming in public discourse.
In some instances, public commentary shifts attention from the act of violence to the behavior of the victim, particularly when women are perceived to have transgressed social expectations.
This contributes to a culture in which accountability gets diluted, and violence is, at times, rationalised rather than unequivocally condemned and dealt with as per law.
At its core, gender-based violence is not only a law-and-order issue but also a structural one. It is sustained by unequal power relations, social conditioning around gender roles, and the continued association of female autonomy with social disruption.