ISLAMABAD: Over 7,500women, including 1,553 in the name of honour, were murdered in the country in four years from 2021 to 2024.

This horrible data was presented by Minister for Human Rights Azam Nazeer Tarar in the National Assembly on Friday in a written reply to a question asked by Naeema Kishwar Khan of the JUI-F.According to the minister, the data has been compiled by National Police Bureau which shows that that 17,771 cases of rape and gang-rape of women were reported during the four-year period. The document reveals that 121 women were subjected to sexual assault during the custody.

During the same period, 9,799 women were subjected to brutality by men within their own homes whereas a total of 632 cases of sexual harassment at workplaces were reported.

The figures show that a total of 173,367 different cases of violence against women were reported all over the country in four years.

Despite government`s claims to havetaken a number of steps to prevent such incidents, the data shows a gradualincrease every yearin such cases as 30,757 cases were reported in 2021, 35,477 in 2022, 46,036 in 2023 and 61,997 casesin 2024.

The data shows that most of the women were murdered in year 2023 when a total of 2,459 women were killed. The number includes 392 incidents of honour killings.

Moreover, 127 cases of acid throwing were also reported during the four-year period.

The number of women kidnapped in four years remained very high with 89,599 such cases.

Giving explanation, Mr Tarar, who also holds the portfolio of law and justice ministry, said the inci-dents of violence against women were noticed in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces due to entrenched societal norms and weak enforcement, which were being addressed through continuous efforts.

He said that appropriate action on such incidents, such as Shanti in Karachi and Sidra Arab of Rawalpindi, had been taken in accordance with the law.

Highlighting various measures taken by the government, he said the violence against women remained a serious concern for the government, stating that the reported cases have shown fluctuations in different provinces and regions. He said there was a generaltrend ofincreased reporting of the incident due to greater awareness, improved access to justice mechanisms, and enhanced media coverage. This reflects growing confidence in the system to report such crimes, he added.

Earlier, at the start of the Question Hour, opposition PTI lawmakers staged a walkout leaving behind Iqbal Afridi to point out lack of quorum in an effort to disrupt the assembly proceedings.

However, Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah declared the house in order after a headcount.In order to maintain quorum, the presence of a minimum of 84 lawmakers is required in the house.

Later, the PTI members returnedto the house and participated in the proceedings.

PTPs Sher Afzal Marwat drew the attention of the chair towards the absence of the ministers from the house. He regretted that only a couple of ministers were present in the house.

Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry tabled two bills the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Netting of Financial Arrangements Bill, 2025 during the lacklustre proceedings of the house. The bills were referred to standing committees concerned.

The National Assembly will now meet on Monday evening at 4.30pm.