Three recent cases — 18-month-old Aizal, five-year-old Ayat Noor, and Hina Javed — have laid bare the depth of Pakistan's failure to protect women and girls, even as the country remains a signatory to multiple international human rights conventions. A detailed report has highlighted how these cases, different in age and circumstance, collectively expose the state's inability to fulfil its obligations under domestic and international law.

Three Cases, One Systemic Failure

Aizal, just 18 months old, died in Karachi after she was allegedly sexually assaulted. According to police reports, a teenage relative allegedly removed the infant from her home; she was returned to her family in critical condition and subsequently died. Medical reports were consistent with sexual assault, and the suspect was taken into judicial custody, according to The Friday Times.

Ayat Noor, aged five, was reported missing from Haripur on 10 August. Her disappearance was one of three child abductions reported from different parts of Haripur within a single week, with police yet to locate any of the missing children. The cluster of incidents has underscored the urgent need for a dedicated child-protection mechanism at the local level.

In Rawalpindi, Hina Javed was found dead in the bathroom of her apartment — her hands allegedly tied, her mouth gagged, and a wire around her neck. Her brother stated that Javed had previously reported physical and psychological abuse by her husband to the family. Her case raises pointed questions about what action authorities take when domestic abuse is flagged before it escalates to murder.

Pakistan's International Obligations Under Scrutiny

These incidents have occurred despite Pakistan being a State Party to four major international frameworks: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Convention against Torture (CAT). The Friday Times report stressed that ratification of these instruments carries enforceable obligations — obligations that critics argue the Pakistani state is visibly failing to meet.

The Numbers Behind the Crisis

The scale of the problem is documented in NGO Sahil's 'Six Months Cruel Numbers Report', which recorded 3,172 cases of gender-based violence across Pakistan in the first six months of 2026, including 18 cases involving transgender persons. The breakdown is stark: 644 murders, 514 cases of torture, 462 abductions, 363 suicides, 280 rapes, 175 injuries, 132 honour killings, and 21 other offences including harassment, gang rape, and pornography cases, according to Pakistani daily Dawn.

In terms of victim age, 334 victims were between 21 and 30 years, 306 were between 11 and 20 years, and 120 were between 31 and 40 years. Notably, ages were not recorded in 71 per cent of cases — itself a data-governance failure that complicates accountability.

Where Violence Happens — and Who Commits It

The report found that 54 per cent of incidents took place in the victims' own homes, while 12 per cent occurred at the perpetrator's residence — making private spaces the primary sites of gender-based violence in Pakistan. As for perpetrators, 27 per cent were acquaintances of the victim, 24 per cent were strangers, and 13 per cent were husbands. Perpetrator identity was not mentioned in 20 per cent of cases.

Geographically, 74 per cent of reported cases originated in Punjab, followed by Sindh at 17 per cent and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at six per cent. The remaining three per cent came from Balochistan, the Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan combined. The data was compiled from national and regional newspapers across all these territories.

Accountability Gap in Reporting and Registration

Of the total cases, 76 per cent were lodged with police, registration status was absent in 23 per cent, and one per cent remained formally unregistered. The high proportion of cases with incomplete registration data points to a systemic gap between incidents occurring and the state formally acknowledging them — a gap that human rights observers say must be addressed if Pakistan is to honour its treaty commitments.

With child abductions unresolved, a murder case raising questions about prior abuse warnings ignored, and over three thousand documented incidents in just six months, pressure on Pakistani authorities to move beyond ratification to enforcement is unlikely to ease.