Alarmed by the rise in domestic brutality, last week the provincial assembly in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province introduced a stringent law against wife-beating, despite stiff opposition from the six-party ruling religious alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

Women lawmakers both from the Opposition and the ruling alliance joined hands to get the law passed.

Dr Anjum Amjad, a member from the ruling alliance, tabled The Punjab Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill 2003 for protection of victims of domestic violence. The Bill also demands criminal proceedings against the perpetrators.

Anjum said there has been a spurt in cases of domestic violence — from 1500 cases in 1998, the number rose to 2,900 in 2001 and 3,996 in 2002.

During the first eight months of this year, as many as 315 women lodged police complaints in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province.

But as evidence of the present law’s weakness, the police registered just two cases and only one case reached the court of law.

Anjum pointed out that children brought up in this environment would be more inclined to criminal activities in future. She stressed that there was an urgent need for legislation to redress grievances of female and child victims.

Predictably, her male colleagues were not as enthusiastic about the Bill. It was strongly opposed by MMA leader, Chaudhry Asghar Gujjar, who termed it a conspiracy to damage family life. He added that it would give the police an opportunity to interfere in family matters.

Opponents of the law objected to Clause 5 of the Bill which states that the police should appoint a Protection Officer. The controversial clause stipulates that such an officer is needed to protect and promptly process complaints from women threatened by violence. Such an officer would guard the woman for the entire period she was in danger.

But the House adopted the Bill with the support of women members from both sides of the divide. It has been sent to the house committee for a report within 30 days, before it is implemented.

Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat said the government is committed to providing legal and security cover to weaker and oppressed sections of society.

Shockingly, the only case of domestic violence to have actually reached the court was that of Shaheen Sultana, a former assistant sub-inspector in the Airport Security Force, before she married Faisal Akram in the last week of December 2002.

A few weeks after the wedding, Akram began beating Sultana for withholding the money she received after her retirement from service. Three months after they were married, Akram again demanded money, but she refused. Enraged, he lost his temper, and started beating her with a nail-studded stick.

The profusely bleeding woman fled to her neighbour’s house, where her husband followed her. He dragged her into the street by her hair, and resumed the savage attack.

Sultana was later rescued by neighbours. She filed a complaint at a women’s police station. Akram was arrested, and the case reached the high court a few months later. He apologized for his behaviour and his wife forgave him.

Akram obtained bail and the case was dismissed.

Activists say this is an archetypal case. Policewoman Rifat Nazir says, “We receive complaints about domestic abuse almost every day, but in 99 per cent of the cases, the families convince the women to withdraw their case even before it is registered.”

But in a comment that speaks volumes of the climate of fear which surrounds women here, she adds, “These are just instances where women have actually complained. Most victims of domestic abuse do not even do that.”

Nongovernmental organization (NGO), Madadgaar, and a joint venture of Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), recorded 4,485 cases of violence against women in Pakistan in 2002, including murder, rape, burning and physical and sexual abuse.

Compiled from media reports, activists say they are just a fraction of the actual number.

Another report by the NGO, Progressive Women Association (PWA) records over 150 cases of women burnt by husbands, in-laws and other family members during the first six months of 2003.

Most horrifying, PWA president Shehnaz Bukhari says that in more than 46 per cent of the cases, the victimized girls were below 20 years of age.

She remarks, “This means 69 teenage girls were burnt during six months, while 110 women were killed after burning. The rest of them were facing hard times.”

But FIRs (First Information Report) in the concerned police stations had been registered in only three per cent of the total number of cases.

Domestic violence victim, Fozia Parveen from the hill region of Murree was raped by her father-in -law Muhammad Zarif just three days after delivering a baby. She says she immediately informed her husband Muhammad Khurshid about the incident, but he took no action. Apparently, Khurshid could not confront his father, and had divorced his first wife for the same reason.

Parveen says she fled to her parents, but Zarif and his son attacked her family and demanded her return. She finally approached the PWA and managed to secure custody of her children.

A lawyer working with the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, Akbar Durrani, says violence against women is rampant in Pakistan due to the absence of specific laws against domestic violence, and loopholes in existing laws.

Durrani also blames the police for ineffective implementation of laws.

Under traditional Islamic law, four witnesses are needed to convict a person of rape.

The law is silent on the issue of wife-beating.