Violence against Women in Sindh a Deadly Phenomenon: A Critical Study

Abstract

This research focuses on identifying the violence against women in Sindh which is also a national wide issue in Pakistan perpetuated to unequal power distribution among men and women. The violence against women in Sindh is reasonably common phenomena not only in Sindh but whole of the subcontinent region there may be several reasons and causes which promotes such acts of violence the fact that there are many laws passed by provincial assembly as well as national assembly which were actually legislated for protection of women from violence and prevention of the violence against women. The ways in which women are being victimized to the extent of violence such as domestic violence, rapes (marital rapes), acid throwing, honor killing, kidnapping, forced marriages, selling of girls to settle down disputes among tribes and families, and the abduction and forced conversion of minor Hindu girls to Islam and making them to get marry to much older Muslim men usually those men are found to be married prior. However the conviction rate in Pakistan for crimes against women is very low with the fact that the provincial and federal governments has approved some acts and policies to encounter the such violence and prevent its happening but it seems that those policies and laws are failing to provide protection to the women eventually failed to prevent the violence against women which is also the violation of basic/fundamental rights of women provided by the constitution. It was also identified that the most of the women in Sindh specially belonging to the rural areas of Sindh does not have any idea about such laws and polices made by the government to give equal rights and opportunities to both genders the mindset of the rural area women is that women are not equal nor above the men which is the main cause for women which is preventing them to counter such violence.