ISLAMABAD: A prominent lawmaker from Pakistan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party has said the government is deliberating establishing a national database of sex offenders in a bid to stem crimes against women as the country reels from a horrific gang-rape on a national highway last week.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf senator, Faisal Javed Khan, said in a tweet: “Govt to establish a national database for sex offenders to curb incidents of rape and sexual assault.” He did not share further details.
The urgency to establish a sex offenders register has gained momentum following nationwide outcry over the rape of a mother, in front of her children, last Tuesday night. Investigators have said one of the suspects in the crime, who is in custody, has been involved in several other sex crimes in the past.
A 2018 Thomson Reuters Foundation survey placed Pakistan as the “sixth most dangerous and fourth worst in terms of economic resources and discrimination as well as the risks women face from cultural, religious and traditional practices, including so-called honor killings.”
Pakistan ranked fifth on non-sexual violence, including domestic abuse, the survey said.
