Pakistan Sleaze: Burqa-clad girl groped in Islamabad; women unsafe in country, says Human Rights Watch

Islamabad: A burqa-clad Pakistani woman was harassed by an unidentified man who groped her from behind in day time in the country's capital Islamabad, a video of the incident that has gone viral revealed.

The video is buzzing on the internet, displaying that the woman was walking on a street in Islamabad, Geo tv reported.

According to Geo tv, the incident took place during the daytime in which a woman, covered in a veil (burqa), could be seen walking on a street when an unidentified man appears and gropes her from behind.

The woman in the video could be seen struggling to push the man away from her.

After harassing her, he could be seen running away.

Senior journalist Hamid Mir, in response to a tweet that posted the video, said that the incident is a challenge for all men to find the culprit, punish him, and make him a lesson for others.

Islamabad police tweeted an assurance, saying that officials were working on the case and the concerned SHO was in touch.

محترم ، اس کیس پر پولیس ٹیم کام کر رہی ہے۔ متعلقہ ایس ایچ او رابطے میں ہے، کارروائی عمل میں لائی جا رہی ہے۔ شکریہ

— Islamabad Police (@ICT_Police) July 17, 2022

In May 2022, a video of several men harrasing, attacking and molesting a woman in Azad Chowk Metro station in Pakistan has gone viral. The woman was claimed to be from Turkey.

Last year, a video surfaced in which a TikToker in Pakistan alleged that hundreds of people beat him up and threw him in the air during the country's Independence Day celebrations on 14 August.

Last year, on Pakistan's Independance Day, hundreds of men in Lahore's Greater Iqbal Park assaulted a woman, tearing her clothes and throwing her in air. A video of the incident went viral on social media. The woman was a TikToker.

Reports say that over 70 per cent of women are victims of harassment at the workplace in Pakistan and there seems to be no end to their plight.

Data collected by White Ribbon Pakistan, an NGO working for women's rights, shows that 4,734 women faced sexual violence between 2004 and 2016. Lately, the government of Pakistan passed the "Protection against Harassment at the Workplace (Amendment Bill), 2022 and has amended the weaker provisions of the 2010 law.

Pakistan observes an increased ratio of overall working women in recent years but the country is grappling with the issue of psychological, physical and sexual harassment of women that impedes their safe mobility and prevents them from stepping outside to work.

Pakistan has always presented a bleak and scary picture when it comes to the safety and security of women. According to Human Rights Watch's (HRW) annual World Report 2022, Pakistan has been at the centre of multitude of allegations of extensive rights abuses against women and children. Pakistan ranks 167 out of 170 countries on the Global Women, Peace and Security index compiled by Georgetown University.

“Women, religious minorities, and transgender people continue to face violence, discrimination, and persecution, with authorities failing to provide adequate protection or hold perpetrators to account. The government continues to do little to hold law enforcement agencies accountable for torture and other serious abuses,” the HRW, in its Annual World Report 2022 observed.

“Violence against women and girls—including rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced marriage—is endemic throughout Pakistan. Human rights defenders estimate that roughly 1,000 women are killed in so-called honor killings every year.”

Meanwhile, according to a recent police report, in the Punjab province around 41,000 women were reported as missing in the last five years, with as many as 3,571 unrecovered so far.

With inputs from agencies

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