Sir: The suicide of Fakhra Younis, whose face had been disfigured by an acid attack, on March 17, 2012; the rape of a first-year girl student in Rawalpindi by five policemen on March 25, 2012 and her attempt to commit suicide the very next day; acid attack on a girl in Sheikhupura on March 25, 2012 and a woman by her husband on a minor domestic issue in Multan on March 26, 2012. These are some incidents that have added to the sense of deprivation in women in the callous patriarchal society of Pakistan. Shockingly, the last three incidents took place in the time span of only two days. Unfortunately, we inhabit a society where the hierarchy of gender has been constructed in such a way as to legitimise the establishment of male authority over women. This social construction has conversely provided the basis for gender-based violence in our society. Women in Pakistan suffer all kinds of violence ranging from rape, mutilation, burning, custodial torture and abuse, to disfiguring of the face, ritual honour killing, and forced marriages. The widespread domestic violence, which ranges from slapping, hitting, kicking, to murder goes unnoticed in most cases as society, tribes, clans and the police view it as a private matter. One of the most shocking and ruthless crimes committed against women is karo kari (honour killing). In certain segments of our society, honour does not really mean what it actually is. It is, however, meant as the fundamental right of a man to possess a woman as a property. This form of ‘honour’ not only restricts the liberty of women under the pretext of protection against immoral acts, it has also authorised (though not legally) men to take the lives of women if they defame the (so-called) family’s honour through marriages of their own choice, etc. This brutality claimed the lives of 943 women in 2011, according to the report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Various independent reports and surveys conducted on the rights of women have shown an increase in such acts because of ineffective legislation or the failure on the part of the authorities to implement the laws that protect women and punish men for perpetrating such crimes. Parliament has just recently passed the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act 2011 and the Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill 2010 with a view to strengthening women’s protection against abuses. The government needs to take adequate and effective steps to ensure full implementation of these laws. Furthermore, the government and independent organisations should conduct public awareness programmes to discourage violence against women. The media should also play its part in this regard by discouraging social practices that are injurious to women. Women should be educated to make them aware of their due rights. Their active participation should be encouraged for social and economic development. Above all, effective rehabilitation programmes should be introduced by the government in particular, and psychiatrists and educationists in general, for those women who have fallen prey to acid attacks, rape, domestic violence, forced marriages or any other form of brutality. Such programmes will not only help them overcome their fears and complexes and contribute effectively to society, they may also prevent another Fakhra Younis from committing suicide. FAZAL MUHAMMAD Quetta