Lead

A total of 3,172 cases of gender-based violence were reported across Pakistan during the first half of 2026, according to Sahil’s Six Months Cruel Numbers Report (January–June 2026). The report, shared with Dawn, also documented 1,914 cases of child abuse during the same period.

The figures, compiled from national and regional newspaper reports across all four provinces, as well as Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, highlight the scale of violence against women, transgender persons, and children in the country.

Coverage comparison

Dawn’s reporting, based on the Sahil report, breaks the data down by crime type, age, location, and relationship to the perpetrator. The two articles—one focused on gender-based violence and the other on child abuse—present the statistics in an informative, neutral tone, citing Sahil’s findings without additional commentary.

Both pieces emphasise Punjab’s disproportionate share of reported cases and note that many incidents occur in victims’ homes, pointing to the domestic nature of much of the violence.

Key claims

According to the Sahil report as covered by Dawn, 3,172 gender-based violence cases were reported between January and June 2026. Of these, 18 involved transgender persons. The breakdown included 644 murders, 514 cases of torture, 462 abductions, 363 suicides, 280 rapes, 175 injuries, 132 honour killings, and 21 other crimes, including harassment, gang rape, and pornography.

Punjab accounted for 74% of gender-based violence cases, followed by Sindh with 17%. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa contributed 6%, while Balochistan, ICT, AJK, and GB combined made up the remaining 3%. The report noted that 54% of incidents occurred in the victims’ own homes, and 12% at the perpetrator’s residence.

Police registration was recorded in 76% of cases, while registration status was not mentioned in 23%, and 1% remained unregistered.

In terms of victim demographics, 334 victims were aged 21–30, 306 were aged 11–20, and 120 were aged 31–40. The report noted that ages were not mentioned in 71% of cases. Perpetrators were identified as acquaintances in 27% of cases, strangers in 24%, and husbands in 13%. In 20% of cases, the perpetrator was not identified.

Regarding child abuse, the report documented 1,914 cases in the first six months of 2026, including 49 infants found abandoned by the roadside. Among these, 1,015 were cases of child sexual abuse, 558 were abductions, 101 were missing children, 35 were child marriages, and 98 involved pornography following sexual abuse.

Girls made up 58% of child victims. Children aged 11–15 were the most vulnerable, with 598 victims in that bracket, followed by 356 aged 16–18, 329 aged 6–10, and 95 aged zero to five. In 487 cases, ages were not specified.

The report also highlighted that abusers were acquaintances in 43% of child abuse cases and strangers in 34%. Nearly half of the incidents (45%) took place at the victims’ residences, 18% at the abusers’ homes, and 3% in open fields. The location was unspecified in 21% of cases.

Regional distribution for child abuse mirrored the gender-based violence pattern: Punjab accounted for 80% of reported cases, Sindh 15%, and the rest of the country 5%. Urban areas saw 57% of cases, compared with 43% in rural areas.