Punjab accounts for 78 per cent of the total cases, followed by Sindh with 14 per cent.
LAHORE:
Sahil, an organization that monitors gender violence, reported in its annual report a significant increase in crimes against women across Pakistan during the first eleven months of 2025.
The report has been compiled from data published in 81 national newspapers covering 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 in one year.
The incidents documented between January and November 2025 include 1,414 cases of murder, 1,144 cases of kidnapping, 1,060 cases of physical assault, 649 cases of suicide and 585 cases of rape.
The data further indicates that in 32 percent of rape cases, the perpetrators were known to the survivors, while in 17 percent they were strangers.
Husbands were involved in 12 percent of the cases, and in 21 percent of the incidents the identity of the perpetrators was not reported.
The findings also highlight that the majority of gender-based violence takes place within the victims’ homes, accounting for 60 percent of recorded cases, while 13 percent occurred in the perpetrator’s own premises.
Regionally, Punjab accounted for 78 per cent of the total cases, followed by Sindh with 14 per cent, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 6 per cent and a combined total of 2 per cent from Balochistan, Islamabad, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Of all reported incidents, 77 percent were registered with police, while 21 percent contained no registration information. In only two cases did the police refuse to file a complaint.
Last week, the Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) published its own fact sheet on violence against women, recording more than 20,000 incidents across the country during the first six months of 2025.
The SSDO report identified extremely low conviction rates, delays in investigations and prosecutions, and poor quality of evidence as major challenges.
Punjab was cited as the most prominent province due to what the organization described as comparatively active reporting mechanisms.
Sahil’s latest assessment warns that the true scale of gender-based violence may be much larger, with many incidents going unreported due to social barriers, lack of access and safety concerns.
The organization highlighted that without ensuring safe reporting environments, effective legal assistance and timely justice for survivors, the growing trend of violence will not be curbed.
