Pakistan

There are no clear data to indicate the prevalence of female genital cutting in Pakistan. Its occurrence has been raised in various media reports, usually in relation to immigrant members of the Dawoodi Bohra community (from India), among whom prevalence is estimated to be 75–85%. Assuming that FGC is practised by the Dawoodi Bohra in Pakistan in the same way it is in India, prevalence would be highest in older groups of women: one survey found that 92% of women aged 46 and above have undergone FGC, compared to 68% of those aged 18–25.

There are also reports about FGC being practised among the Sheedi, a small sect mainly located in the south of Pakistan, who are believed to have originated from Africa centuries ago, perhaps bringing the practice with them.

The Dawoodi Bohra community comprises more than a million people across 40 countries. The majority live in India, but there are also large communities in Pakistan, Yemen and the Middle East. In 2011 it was estimated that 100,000 live in Pakistan, mainly in the south. A survey and report about FGC among the Dawoodi Bohra, produced in India by Sahiyo, found that 5.7% of those surveyed lived in Pakistan, but 14.2% underwent FGC in Pakistan. Orchid Project’s own research has found that Bohra girls from countries where FGC is criminalised, such as the United States, have been brought to Pakistan to undergo FGC.

Estimates of the size of the Sheedi population resident in Pakistan vary from fifty thousand to just under one million. An estimated 50% reside in lower Sindh, 20% in the city of Karachi, and 30% in Baluchistan. The Head Office of the Young Sheedi Welfare Organization is based in Badin, in Sindh province.