Punjab accounts for 78 percent of the total cases, followed by Sindh with 14 percent
LAHORE:
Sahil, an organization that monitors gender-based violence, has reported a significant increase in crimes against women in Pakistan during the first eleven months of 2025 in its annual report.
The report has been compiled from data published in 81 national newspapers spanning all four provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
It shows that 6,543 incidents were reported in 2025, compared to 5,253 cases in 2024. This reflects an increase of almost twenty-five percent over a year.
The incidents documented between January and November 2025 include 1,414 cases of murder, 1,144 cases of abduction, 1,060 of physical assaults, 649 cases of suicide and 585 cases of rape.
The data also indicate that in 32 percent of the rape cases, the perpetrators were known to the survivors, while 17 percent involved strangers.
Husbands were implicated in 12 percent of cases, and in 21 percent of incidents the identity of the perpetrators was not reported.
The findings also highlight that the majority of gender-based violence takes place in the victims’ homes, accounting for 60 percent of the recorded cases, while 13 percent took place in the perpetrator’s own premises.
Regionally, Punjab accounted for 78 percent of the total cases, followed by Sindh with 14 percent, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 6 percent and a total of 2 percent from Balochistan, Islamabad, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Of all reported incidents, 77 percent were registered with the police, while 21 percent did not contain information about registration. Only two cases involved the police’s refusal to file a complaint.
Last week, the Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) released its own fact sheet on violence against women, recording more than 20,000 incidents nationwide in the first six months of 2025.
The SSDO report pointed to extremely low conviction rates, delays in investigations and trials and poor quality of evidence as major challenges.
Punjab was cited as the most prominent province due to what the organization described as relatively active reporting mechanisms.
Sahil’s latest assessment warns that the actual scale of gender-based violence may be much higher, as many incidents go unreported due to social barriers, lack of access and security concerns.
The organization stressed that without ensuring safe reporting environments, effective legal aid and timely justice for survivors, the growing trend of violence cannot be curbed.
