ISLAMABAD, DEC 23: A Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) monitoring report on Friday said Karachi (West), Peshawar and Faisalabad districts registered high number of murder cases in September this year.

FAFEN monitors visited 83 offices of District Police Officers (DPOs) throughout the country – 28 in Punjab, 23 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 in Sindh, 12 in Balochistan and one in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) – to gather information about 32,379 FIRs registered for 27 offences falling under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). FAFEN’s Pakistan Crime Monitor includes in its analysis only crimes for which an FIR has been lodged.

The report said 85 murder and 84 attempted murder cases were registered in Karachi (West) district in September this year. Peshawar district registered 56 murder and 44 attempted murder cases, followed by Faisalabad district with 52 murder and 76 attempted murder FIRs.

Category-wise, 59% of the total FIRs related to other crimes, 19% were those of crimes against property, 13% pertained to crimes of physical harm, 6% were of threat and fraud while 3% were those committed against women. Region-wise, 62% of all the FIRs were lodged in Punjab, 25% in KP, 10% in Sindh, 2% in Balochistan and 1% in ICT.

Region-wise, Punjab constituted 46% of the 880 FIRs for murder registered there followed by KP 30% (268 FIRs) and Sindh 20% (180 FIRs) in 19 districts. In Balochistan, there were 25 murder cases recorded of which, 15 were reported in Quetta district alone.

On the other hand, 996 FIRs were registered for six offences against women. These comprised 3% of the total 32,397 FIRs lodged in September.

Nearly 23% of the total crimes committed against women were those of rape.

Region-wise, 26 monitored districts in Punjab constituted 83% of all such FIRs, followed by 9% in 14 districts in KP, 7% in Sindh’s seven districts and two such cases were registered in Quetta district.  However, no case was reported in the ICT during the monitoring period.

Sixty two percent of the 4,139 FIRs of physical harm were registered in Punjab, 20% in KP, 14% in Sindh, 3% in Balochistan and 1% in ICT. Similarly, nearly 73% of the 6,245 property-related FIRs were lodged in Punjab, 21% in Sindh, 2% each in KP and ICT and 1% in Balochistan.

Ninety percent of the total1,863 FIRs of threat and fraud were reported in Punjab while 6% were registered in KP. The monitored districts in Punjab and Sindh constituted 69% and 20% of the 996 FIRs of crimes against women. These were followed by 8% FIRs registered in KP and about 2% in ICT and 1% in Balochistan.

Attempted murder topped the list of most widespread crimes with 1,030 FIRs recorded in 78 out of the 83 districts monitored. This was followed by murder, hurt, theft and robbery and dacoity reported in 76, 75, 63 and 56 districts respectively. Theft was the most frequently committed crime with 2,553 FIRs registered.

Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Multan and Karachi (West) reported the highest number of FIRs, collectively constituting 31% of the 32,379 FIRs. On average 2,030 FIRs were filed in each of the top five districts.

About FAFEN

FAFEN is a network of 42 civil society organizations working to foster democratic accountabilities in Pakistan. It is governed by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability.