2016-04-02 16:22:00

Rights group in Pakistan records drop in violence in 2015‎


A leading rights group reported on Friday that deaths due to violence in Pakistan dropped 40 percent in 2015, but 4,612 people died that year in bombings and other attacks, as the government battles to contain a militant insurgency.  The report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) was released just days after an Easter Sunday suicide bombing killed 70 people in a park in the city of Lahore, a reminder that despite improvements, rates of violence remain high in the country.  The HRCP report titled ‘State of Human Rights in 2015’ said the number of people killed in sectarian violence declined too, with 272 fatalities in 2015 compared to 420 in 2014. The report recorded 706 militant attacks in Pakistan last year, the lowest number since 2008. An army operation in Pakistan's North Waziristan has significantly damaged militant networks.

However, the HRCP also reported a rise in honour killings.  Nearly 1,100 women were killed in Pakistan last year by relatives who believed they had dishonoured their families.   In its annual report the commission said 900 more women suffered sexual violence and nearly 800 took, or tried to take, their own lives. In 2014 about 1,000 women died in honour-related attacks and 869 in 2013.  Correspondents say a large number of such crimes go unreported in Pakistan.  The report said that 88 men were also the victims of honour killings last year.








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