Islamabad, Feb 7 (IANS): Even Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and social activist Mukhtaran Mai are not being honoured in Pakistan as women still remained the most backward in the country, a leading daily said Saturday.

Pakistani women still remain among the most backward in the world despite almost seven decades of independence, said Pakistan Today.

Stories of persecution, harassment, rape, marital oppression, and honour killings have become so common that they hardly cause any uproar.

A few victims who struggle and gain international praise like Mukhtaran Mai, a gang rape victim who pursued her own case and Malala Yousalzai, the youngest Nobel laureate, are being censured rather than celebrated in Pakistan, it said.

Pakistani women have made inspiring advances in many fields such as Benazir Bhutto who became the first woman prime minister of a Muslim country.

The daily said that Pakistan has been accommodative of regressive elements who exploit religion to instil their conservative view on the society.

Even the so called secular governments of Bhutto and former president Pervez Musharraf never moved beyond heavy rhetoric and cosmetic changes, it said.