ISLAMABAD
A leading minority rights organization, VOPM, released a staggering report revealing that over 100,000 cases of missing women were registered in Pakistan’s Punjab province between 2021 and 2025. The data, submitted to the Lahore High Court, details a crisis involving 105,571 reported disappearances, with more than 70,000 of those linked to abductions.
While the majority of these cases, roughly 77 percent, ended with women appearing in court to claim they left home voluntarily for marriage, activists are raising the alarm. The VOPM suggests that these statements are often coerced by social pressure, fear, or family expectations, questioning whether “legal consent” truly reflects personal freedom. To date, over 80,000 cases have been formally cancelled, a move that often leaves families without answers or closure.
The human cost remains high as the legal system struggles to keep pace. Currently, 3,258 women remain completely untraced, leaving their families in a state of perpetual grief. Another 3,864 cases are still under active investigation, while 1,432 cases involving known suspects remain unresolved due to procedural delays.
VOPM warned against the normalization of these “routine” disappearances. With only 612 women successfully recovered and presented to the courts during this period, the organization argues that the justice system is failing to protect vulnerable citizens. They emphasized that these are not just statistics or files, they represent thousands of disrupted lives and families left waiting for loved ones who may never return.
