The Special Committee of the National Assembly on Gender Mainstreaming expressed grave concern over the increasing cases of violence against women and girls across the country. The meeting of the NA panel, chaired by Dr. Nafisa Shah, strongly condemned all forms of violence against women and girls and expressed solidarity with the victims and their families. Taking serious notice of recent incidents, it called upon the relevant federal and provincial authorities to ensure swift, impartial, and transparent investigations and timely prosecutions in accordance with due process.
It further called for action against officials responsible for negligence, delay, interference, failure to protect victims, or failure to preserve evidence. It reiterated devising special mechanisms to track the complete legal cycle of such cases and ensure punishment for the culprits. The members observed that merely registering cases or constituting inquiry committees was not sufficient and that each case must be monitored from the initial complaint and investigation through prosecution, trial, and final disposal.
Dr. Nafisa Shah stressed that the criminal justice response must focus on convictions, supported by credible investigations, proper evidence collection, and timely prosecution. The NA panel recommended that a Serious Case Cell be established within the Islamabad Police to monitor grave cases of violence against women and children and ensure continuous institutional follow-up throughout the legal process. It also directed the secretary of the Ministry of Human Rights to coordinate with the IGs of police in all four provinces and the relevant authorities in Islamabad to develop a central dashboard for tracking these cases.
The dashboard should record progress at every stage, including registration, investigation, preservation of evidence, prosecution, trial, and final disposal. It decided to obtain comprehensive reports on conviction rates in cases of violence against women. These reports would help identify institutional and legal gaps, assess the performance of investigation and prosecution systems, and support regular parliamentary monitoring, it observed. The NA panel was briefed by the Ministry of Human Rights on progress made in the formulation of a national policy on the care economy, reaffirming its commitment to ending impunity for gender-based violence.