Unemployment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa raises divorce rates
Dec 28, 2022
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan], December 28 : Due to increasing unemployment, domestic violence has increased in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa leading to the annulment of marriage, reported Pak vernacular media, Aeen.
In the current year, over one lakh women filed for divorce and over 10 thousand were granted the Khula Decrees by courts.
Aeen reported that many women were killed in and outside the judiciary for filing Talaq cases.
In August, up to 500 divorce cases were filed in Lahore's civil family courts by women, the majority of whom previously wed the men of their choice but now wish to divorce them due to an increase in domestic conflict brought on by their husbands' unemployment, reported Daily Times.
Moreover, the suicide rates among women in the Swat district of northwestern Pakistan have increased.
Alarming increases have been reported this year among women and young students committing suicide in the region. In the first eight months of 2018, 346 people, mostly women, committed suicide in Malakand Division, a tourist spot located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local broadcaster Geo News reported.
The highest number of cases (222) was reported in Swat. Police said domestic violence and unemployment are the main reasons for the rise in suicide cases.
For ethnic Pashtun -- hailing from northern Pakistan and parts of bordering Afghanistan -- arranged marriages are a custom several generations have lived with and until recently was never questioned.
In the largely tribal ethnic group, which follows its own set of customs and values called the Pashtunwali, families can make or break an individual, reported Anadolu Agency.
In such circumstances, marriages are often decided based on tribal affiliations -- or sometimes even to settle scores.
Elsewhere, women can walk out of an unhappy marriage, but in Pashtun culture, divorce is taboo.
The region was once a hotbed of Taliban. Many happy families were destroyed in Taliban attacks and bombings. Some locals said that the attacks have severely affected mental health of residents.
