True Crime

  By Mishal Zia Dateline: Islamabad, December 2020 Abortion in Pakistan is one of the most misunderstood and controversial subjects in public discourse. The issue exists at the intersection of law, religion, culture and women’s lived realities. Despite being practised widely in secret, abortion remains legally restricted and socially stigmatized, forcing many women into unsafe procedures with devastating consequences. Under the Pakistan Penal Code, abortion is referred to as Isqat‑e‑Haml and Isqat‑e‑Janin. It is a criminal offense except under very narrow circumstances when carried out in good faith to save a woman’s life or for necessary treatment. These legal terms are vague and unstandardized, leaving doctors and patients uncertain and hesitant to act for fear of prosecution. Both good faith and necessary treatment lack clear legal definition, discouraging women from seeking safe reproductive health care. Despite these restrictions, abortion and other forms of gender‑related opp...

 By Michelle Zeah  Dateline: Karachi, 22 October 2022 Millions of women in Pakistan remain silent in the name of so-called “honor.” Many face violence, injustice, and deprivation of education at the hands of their own families. Forced marriages remain widespread, denying countless girls the chance to lead independent lives. During a 2015 interview in Sindh, a father of five daughters was asked by a journalist, “Why are you marrying your oldest daughter so early? She is just 15.” He responded, “I have five daughters — who is going to protect their honor?” Tragically, these girls never attended school, and in some areas, female education is actively forbidden. I recall an incident from my university days when a peer shared a horrifying case: a woman had been chained by her in-laws and subjected to daily torture. Despite her suffering, no one intervened, and the police were never contacted. Many in Pakistan fear involving authorities, believing it could bring dishonor or even wor...

  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, January 15, 2021  By Mishal Zia  Recent year, Pakistan faced a stark crisis of gender-based violence and domestic abuse, exposing deep social fault lines and systemic failures in law enforcement and justice. Government and civil society data recorded over fourteen thousand cases of gender-based violence that year, a figure that represents only a fraction of actual incidents due to chronic under-reporting and cultural stigma. Among the most brutal and widely reported cases was the murder of Noor Mukadam, a 27-year-old woman and daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat. On July 20, 2021, she was kidnapped, tortured, raped, and ultimately killed in Islamabad. The shocking nature of the crime Mukadam was decapitated after two days in captivity — sparked nationwide outrage and became a defining symbol of gender-based violence in Pakistan. The suspect was later convicted and sentenced to death, while civil society called for deeper systemic reforms to prot...