Peshawar: Every day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, an average of 7.6 women approach the police to report violence. Their stories include murder, honour killings, rape, gang rape, domestic abuse, child marriage, and suicides. Each report reflects a life disrupted — a woman’s dignity violated — and a system tested. Yet, despite the seriousness of these incidents, the public rarely hears these stories.
Aurat Foundation study on violence against women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Aurat Foundation, under the Rule of Law Project with support from UN Women and the European Union, has released its latest analysis on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) from January 1 to November 15, 2025. The findings reveal a troubling contradiction: while violence is frequent, reporting of such crimes in public spaces remains remarkably limited.
Media coverage gaps and selective reporting
The study reviewed coverage from leading newspapers including Dawn, Express, Aaj, and Shumal, and found that print media reported only a small fraction of the violence cases documented by police. While incidents of murder, honour killing, and rape appeared in news columns, cases involving domestic abuse, suicides, and child marriages were either absent or reduced to brief mentions, with minimal detail on follow-up investigations, arrests, or legal actions. Reporting remained episodic and event-driven, lacking consistency or continuity.
District-level silence on violence against women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
The analysis further reveals that 16 districts of KP did not report a single case of violence against women in print media, while six districts reported only one case. Across 10 categories of violence, no media coverage appeared at all. Among categories that were reported, murder emerged as the most prevalent, with 104 murder cases out of 186 total media-reported incidents. Additionally, 19 suicide cases, 17 honour killings, 7 gang rapes, and 13 rapes were reported. A notable trend surfaced in terms of geography: 124 cases originated from rural areas, compared to 37 cases from urban areas, underscoring rural invisibility and gendered vulnerabilities in remote regions.
Digital platforms and invisibility of women’s suffering
This gap widens further in the digital space. Pages with millions of followers across KP in Swat, Mardan, Hazara, Parachinar and beyond show almost no reporting on VAWG. In a world where information travels instantly, the suffering of women remains invisible. This silence enables communities to dismiss violence as private or ordinary and allows perpetrators to continue without public accountability.
Justice system challenges and high acquittal rates
The justice system echoes this silence. Data from the KP Prosecution Office indicate acquittal rates ranging from 93% to 100%. Investigations drag, evidence is poorly managed, survivors confront intimidation, and many women withdraw their cases long before reaching court. For a survivor, the journey to justice becomes more traumatic than the violence itself.
Cultural barriers and suppressed voices
It is not surprising, then, that many women never report abuse at all. Cultural shame, fear of retaliation, social isolation, absence of legal aid, lack of psychosocial support and informal family pressure combine to suppress their voices. Silence becomes a survival strategy.
Aurat Foundation calls for action
Aurat Foundation calls on all stakeholders to break this cycle. We urge media to report VAWG consistently and ethically, police to enhance survivor-friendly mechanisms, judicial and prosecution authorities to address delays and improve evidence handling, and government institutions to build integrated data systems. Community leaders and civil society must challenge stigma, honour based silence, and harmful social norms.
“When women’s suffering is unreported, it becomes normalized. Breaking silence in homes, on news pages, in police stations, and in digital spaces is essential not only to document violence, but to end it,” Aurat Foundation stated.
Read related news here: https://greenpost.com.pk/category/pakistan/
