Prostitution in Pakistan

Updated 2026-10-07

Prostitution in Pakistan refers to the exchange of sexual services for money or goods within the territory of Pakistan. Though prohibited under several overlapping statutes, the practice persists and is frequently characterised in scholarship and journalism as a "taboo" trade that exists as an "open secret" — publicly condemned yet socially and economically sustained. Because the activity is illegal and heavily stigmatised, reliable, comprehensive data are scarce, and most available figures are estimates subject to significant underreporting.

Legal framework

Prostitution in Pakistan is regulated by a combination of constitutional principles, colonial-era penal provisions, provincial ordinances, Islamic criminal law, and modern anti-trafficking legislation.

Constitutional basis. Article 37(g) of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973, included in the Principles of Policy, directs the State to "prevent prostitution, gambling and the taking of injurious drugs." As a Principle of Policy, this provision is non-justiciable guidance rather than a directly enforceable prohibition.

Pakistan Penal Code (1860). Sections 371A and 371B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) criminalise the sale and purchase of persons for prostitution or illicit intercourse, prescribing imprisonment of up to twenty-five years and a fine. Section 371A addresses selling, letting to hire, or otherwise disposing of a person for prostitution; Section 371B addresses buying, hiring, or obtaining possession of a person for the same purposes. Both contain statutory presumptions that a woman sold or disposed of to a prostitute or brothel-keeper is presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have been disposed of for prostitution. The original Sections 372 and 373 (dealing with minors) were repealed by the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979. Section 377 PPC criminalises "carnal intercourse against the order of nature." Following the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act, 2006, the offence of fornication was placed in Section 496B PPC (punishable by up to five years' imprisonment and a fine up to Rs 10,000), and prosecution for it may only be initiated through a complaint under Section 203C of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

Provincial Suppression of Prostitution Ordinances (1961). The West Pakistan Suppression of Prostitution Ordinance, 1961 (W.P. Ordinance No. II of 1961) — and parallel provincial enactments in Punjab and elsewhere — "consolidate the law relating to the suppression of prostitution." The Ordinance defines "prostitution" as "promiscuous sexual intercourse for hire, whether in money or kind," and a "brothel" as any house, room, or place in which a prostitute resides or carries on prostitution, or where facilities are known to be available for prostitution. It criminalises keeping, managing, financing, or assisting in the management of a brothel (Section 3); soliciting or loitering for prostitution in a public place (Section 4); living on the earnings of another's prostitution or exploiting another's prostitution (Section 6); causing or abetting the prostitution of a girl under sixteen (Section 7); procuration (Section 8); importing women or girls for prostitution (Section 9); and keeping or detaining a woman or girl for prostitution (Section 10). Penalties range from fines and short imprisonment to, in some provisions, up to twenty-five years' rigorous imprisonment or death in the most aggravated cases of detention for prostitution.

Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979. Promulgated during the Islamisation programme of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, this Ordinance defined zina as wilful sexual intercourse between a man and a woman not married to each other, and classified zina as a hadd offence in specified circumstances, with punishments including stoning to death for a muhsan offender and one hundred lashes for a non-muhsan offender, subject to strict evidentiary requirements. The 2006 amendment removed rape (zina-bil-jabr) and related matters from the Ordinance's operation, moving consensual extramarital sex into the PPC as fornication. In practice, most convictions in related offences have fallen under discretionary (tazir) rather than hadd punishment.

Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2018 (PTPA). The PTPA criminalises trafficking in persons, including for sexual exploitation, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. It provides for imprisonment and fines, with enhanced penalties where the offence is committed against a child or a woman, and for aggravated circumstances such as serious injury, death, or involvement of an organised criminal group. The Act replaced the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance, 2002, and was subsequently amended (notably in 2025). Offences under the Act are cognisable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable.

Police powers. Article 4(1) of the Police Order, 2002, permits police to enter and inspect, without a warrant, on reliable information, "any public place, shop or gaming-house where alcoholic drinks or narcotics are sold or weapons are illegally stored and other public places or resort of loose and disorderly characters."

Judicial interpretation. In Khalida Bibi and another v. The State (2024 PCRLJ 1972, Lahore High Court), the court held — in tentative observations made while granting bail — that Sections 371A and 371B PPC are not attracted by consensual sexual intercourse in private premises, as those provisions target the sale, purchase, or procurement of persons for prostitution. The court further observed that keeping a brothel is primarily addressed by the provincial Suppression of Prostitution Ordinance, and that fornication under Section 496B PPC requires a complaint under Section 203C CrPC. The court also noted the limits on warrantless police entry into private premises.

Historical background

Pre-colonial and Mughal periods. In the regions of present-day Pakistan, performance traditions and commercial sexual exchange were historically intertwined. The tawaif institution under the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) involved trained courtesans who served as entertainers, companions, and cultural patrons, enjoying a measure of autonomy, property rights, and status in cities such as Lahore, where the quarter later known as Heera Mandi developed as an entertainment district. Ethnic groups such as the Kanjar, historically nomadic, were associated over time with entertainment and, in some cases, with prostitution, giving rise to the colloquial terms kanjar (prostitute) and kanjari (pimp). Courtly tolerance of courtesans coexisted with Islamic prohibitions on zina, reflecting a recurring tension between religious prescription and elite practice.

Colonial era. British colonial administration regulated prostitution, initially to protect European troops from venereal disease. The Cantonment Act of 1864 and subsequent amendments mandated the registration of prostitutes near army bases, periodic medical examinations, and confinement of infected women in "lock hospitals," with supervised brothels established in cantonment areas. These regulations created structured red-light districts in Punjab (including Lahore) and Sindh (including Karachi) and marked a shift toward a utilitarian, state-supervised model. Economic dislocation, including major famines, and urbanisation contributed to the influx of rural women into these networks.

Post-independence and Islamisation. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, established red-light districts — including Heera Mandi in Lahore, areas of Multan, Napier Road in Karachi, Qasai Gali in Rawalpindi, and localities in Faisalabad — continued to operate. Under General Zia-ul-Haq (1977–1988), the Islamisation programme and the 1979 Hudood Ordinances intensified legal and social pressure, curtailing music, dance, and performance hours, and prompting police surveillance of red-light areas. Enforcement nonetheless remained inconsistent, and the trade adapted by moving further underground and into private and semi-clandestine arrangements.

Demographics and estimates

Estimates of the number of people involved in prostitution in Pakistan vary. A 2017 UNAIDS report estimated approximately 229,000 female sex workers nationally; other UNAIDS-linked figures cite roughly 228,800. Broader mappings compiled in secondary sources place the number of male sex workers at approximately 79,900 and transgender sex workers at around 39,200. These figures should be treated as approximations: the illegality and stigma attached to the activity, along with differing definitions and methodologies, mean that underreporting is likely. Major concentrations are reported in urban centres including Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, and Multan.

Forms and organisation

Scholarship and journalistic accounts describe several overlapping categories of prostitution in Pakistan:

Brothel-based work, concentrated in historic red-light districts and smaller rented premises (kothas), in which workers commonly depend on a "madam" or owner.
Street-based work, involving solicitation in public places and generally associated with higher risk of violence and police attention.
Home-based work, dispersed through residential areas.
Call-girl and mobile-based work, arranged by telephone or online and associated with greater discretion and higher-income clientele.
Escort and hotel-based services.

Intermediaries — variously termed dalal, bharva, or pimp — frequently control client access and take a substantial share of earnings. Accounts differentiate between individuals who were trafficked or lured into the trade, those born into families already engaged in it, and those who enter independently.

Male and transgender sex work

Male sex work, largely serving male clients, is reported in cities including Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi, and overlaps substantially with populations of men who have sex with men. Transgender sex workers, referred to as khawaja sira or hijra, form distinct communities in which sex work is often integrated with begging and performance. These communities are frequently organised around a guru–chela (master–disciple) kinship system in which senior figures recruit and mentor juniors and typically receive a share of their earnings. In parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the practice of bacha bazi — involving the dressing and performance of boys for male audiences followed by sexual exploitation — has been documented. Homosexual conduct remains criminalised under Section 377 PPC, and observers report that the provision is sometimes used as a tool for extortion rather than consistently prosecuted.

Trafficking

Pakistan is identified by the United States Department of State as a source, transit, and destination country for sex trafficking. Domestic trafficking typically moves women and girls from rural and economically marginalised areas to urban centres. Cross-border flows involve victims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, and Central Asian states, as well as Pakistani women trafficked abroad, including to Gulf states. Afghan women and girls are reported to be especially vulnerable, particularly after 2021. Observers describe structured systems for exploiting women, girls, and LGBTI individuals, including the sale of victims and the use of debt bondage, false job offers, and forced marriages. The PTPA of 2018 and supporting rules of 2020 provide for victim identification, protection, shelter, and repatriation, though assessments have noted gaps in victim identification and protection. Pakistan has consistently been ranked by the U.S. State Department at "Tier 2" in its Trafficking in Persons reports.

Health

Pakistan has a low overall HIV prevalence (approximately 0.1% of the general population), but its epidemic is described as concentrated among key populations, including female, male, and transgender sex workers and people who inject drugs. Reported HIV prevalence is substantially higher among male sex workers and transgender sex workers than among female sex workers: figures cited in national and international reporting place female sex worker prevalence at roughly 0.6%–2.2%, male sex workers at roughly 5.4%–5.6%, and transgender sex workers at roughly 7.1%. Elevated seroprevalence of syphilis and hepatitis B and C has also been documented among these groups. Contributing factors identified in the literature include inconsistent condom use (sometimes linked to higher payment for unprotected sex), limited access to health services, low awareness, and stigma that discourages testing and treatment. Because sexual health is a sensitive subject in Pakistan and sex workers face social exclusion, data on disease burden are incomplete.

Social context, stigma, and violence

Dominant social and religious norms in Pakistan view prostitution as morally unacceptable; a 2013 Pew Research Center survey reported that 90% of Muslims surveyed regarded it as morally wrong. Women engaged in the trade are frequently derogated with terms such as gandi kanjri ("dirty prostitute") and may face ostracism, family rejection, and honour-based violence. Studies and advocacy submissions report high rates of physical and sexual violence against sex workers by clients, pimps, and, in some accounts, police, alongside elevated rates of drug use and mental-health distress. Reported drivers of entry include poverty, low levels of education, unemployment, family debt and debt bondage, domestic violence, forced and early marriage, homelessness, and displacement. Research conducted in Punjab has found that a large majority of surveyed sex workers entered the trade for financial reasons, and that many operate with the knowledge of their families. A majority in at least one study expressed a wish to leave the trade but cited a lack of alternative skills, education, or income.

Enforcement and corruption

Enforcement of anti-prostitution and anti-trafficking laws is described as uneven. Observers note low conviction rates relative to the number of investigations and prosecutions, judicial delays, evidentiary difficulties, and the frequent use of fines rather than imprisonment. Reports by international bodies and the Pakistani press have documented allegations that police and officials in some red-light districts accept bribes to overlook brothels and solicitation, that complaints are sometimes not registered without inducements, and that enforcement disproportionately targets visible workers rather than organisers, clients, or traffickers. Brothels in major cities are reported to persist despite periodic raids; some districts are described as operating with tacit official or political protection. The United States has cited insufficient progress on official complicity as a factor in Pakistan's continuing Tier 2 ranking.

Civil society and exit programmes

A number of Pakistani non-governmental organisations work with victims of trafficking and with individuals seeking to leave prostitution, generally within an anti-trafficking framework. Documented activities include the provision of legal aid, temporary shelters and safe houses, medical and psychosocial services, vocational training, and reintegration support. Organisations cited in advocacy submissions to United Nations mechanisms include the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners' Aid (SHARP Pakistan), the Pakistan Legal Youth Council, the Sheed Society, and the Women's Action Forum. Some shelter and rehabilitation initiatives have been founded by former sex workers. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has monitored and reported on trafficking and related exploitation. Assessments of these programmes note that long-term outcomes are constrained by stigma, family and community rejection, funding limits, and the absence of durable economic alternatives, with relapse reported in a number of cases.

Notes on sources and reliability

Because prostitution is criminalised and stigmatised in Pakistan, quantitative claims about its prevalence, organisation, and health consequences should be read with caution. Figures cited here derive from international agencies (notably UNAIDS), government reporting (including Federal Investigation Agency and U.S. Department of State materials), academic and NGO studies, and press accounts. Definitions, sampling methods, and reporting incentives differ across these sources, and no single authoritative census exists. Widely circulated statistics drawn from small or methodologically limited studies should not be treated as settled fact.