Islamabad, September 8 (Daily Kiran) : In Islamabad, a disturbing surge in sexual assault cases against women has been reported, particularly in Punjab province. Within a few days, six women were allegedly raped, and three girls, including a mentally challenged 15-year-old, were subjected to sexual abuse.
Most of these incidents took place in Lahore, where Punjab’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has repeatedly emphasized a zero-tolerance policy towards gender-based violence.
One shocking case involved a suspect who lured a mentally disabled girl to a secluded area and allegedly raped her. In another incident, a woman from Hanjra Wala reported that her ex-husband forcibly entered her home and assaulted her. According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, when she resisted, he physically assaulted her and threatened her against filing a police report.
Another victim recounted how a cab driver promised her a well-paying job at a factory. After a few days, he contacted her to meet at a location in Kahna under the pretext of discussing the job. Upon her arrival, the cab driver and his accomplices gang-raped her, recording the incident to blackmail her later.
A woman from Johar Town filed a complaint with the police, claiming a man had promised to marry her but denied the commitment after she became pregnant.
In Nishter Colony, police registered a case against a suspect who repeatedly sexually assaulted a woman. Similarly, Shahdara Town police acted on a complaint from another woman who reported multiple rapes by a man.
A report released in July revealed that in the first half of 2026, Pakistan recorded 3,172 cases of gender-based violence, including 18 incidents involving transgender individuals. The report detailed 644 homicides, 514 torture cases, 462 kidnappings, 363 suicides, 280 rapes, and 175 injuries, among other crimes, during the same period.
The findings indicated that 334 victims were aged between 21 and 30, while 306 were between 11 and 20 years old, and 120 were aged 31 to 40. Alarmingly, the age of victims was not mentioned in 71 percent of the cases. This six-month report compiled data from national and regional newspapers across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, the Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Dawn’s report also highlighted that 27 percent of the perpetrators were acquaintances of the victims, 24 percent were strangers, and 13 percent were husbands, while the assailants’ identities were not disclosed in 20 percent of the cases.
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