Criminalising Abuse.

The road to criminalising domestic violence in Pakistan has been a long one. It has included much persuasion of more conservative parliamentarians and convincing religious-political parties that criminalising domestic violence does not go against religious confines.

The country has now taken a big step towards elimination of this social menace with the last remaining province, which did not have an anti-domestic violence law, also adopting legislation criminalising it. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday declared the abuse of women by family members an offence punishable with 1-5 years imprisonment along with a fine. Sindh was the first province where the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2013, was passed in 2013. In Balochistan, the assembly had passed The Balochistan Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2014, in 2014. In Punjab, the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, 2016, was famously made law in February 2016. The only territory now left without protections against domestic violence is Islamabad, where the government has tabled similar laws this year but they have yet to be passed by the parliament.

This has not been easy-the bill was long delayed due to opposition from...