Pakistan’s acid attack victims pin hope on new laws

[Neo]

Pakistan’s acid attack victims pin hope on new laws

This picture taken on December 4, 2009, shows Pakistani acid attack survivor Naziran Bibi (L) learning to walk down the stairs with a stick at the Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness in Rawalpindi on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Monday, 04 Jan, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Naziran Bibi knows exactly what she would consider apt justice for the person who hurled acid in her face, burnt out her eyes, disfigured her beyond recognition and destroyed her life.

An eye for an eye, she tells AFP, her rage palatable in her small rooms at a charity's office in Pakistan's capital, her children scrambling over her as she gropes for a sewing box and twists thread round her fingers.

“If someone burns a face with acid, his face should also be burnt with acid. If someone blinds someone's eyes, his eyes should also be blinded,” says Bibi.

“Yes, I want it done... my life is over now.”

Bibi is locked in a complicated legal tussle over the attack and is fighting for custody of her young children, while learning how to live without sight and struggling with surgeries to rebuild her ruined face.

She is only 23 years old, but with no upper lip, a barely reconstructed nose, scar tissue where her right eye should be and a raw red socket where her left eye once was, her youth is impossible to discern.

Married off against her will as a second wife to her brother-in-law after her husband died, Bibi says she was treated abysmally. Then one night last year, someone poured acid over her as she slept, causing horrendous burns.

Confused, in pain and fearing for the safety of her two daughters, she was coerced by her husband into blaming a man she believes was innocent, and is now trying to retract her initial statement.

Bibi thinks her husband was responsible, but he remains free.

“I was in a terrible condition. I had psychological problems. I was not normal mentally... I simply want punishment for him. I want to throw acid on him. Not only on him, but on everybody who throws acid on others,” she said.

The uneducated woman from Pakistan's cotton belt in rural Punjab province may want brutal justice, but activists are pressing for a change in the law to help prevent such attacks.

Thanks to a struggle in the highest court in the land by another acid attack victim — Naila Farhat — campaigners are hopeful that this devastating form of violence can be curtailed.

Pakistan is a conservative Muslim country, where women — especially in poor, rural areas — can be treated like commodities with little protection from the police and under pressure not to disgrace their families.

“Their families will say 'it's the wrong thing to go to the courts, what will society think about you?',” said Sana Masood, the legal coordinator with Pakistan's Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF).

The nation remains without a domestic violence law. It has been drafted, but lawmakers say it is still under debate as a senator from a hardline Islamic party raised objections and sent the bill back to parliament.

Acid attacks are rising, with ASF recording 48 cases in 2009 and Masood says countless more probably go unreported because of social stigma.

That is up from about 30 cases in 2007, a rise Masood says could be blamed on increased stress in people's lives as inflation soars.

Farhat was just 13 years old when a man threw acid in her face in 2003 because her parents refused to let him marry their child.

The attacker was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay 1.2 million rupees in damages, but on appeal a high court reduced the damages and said the man could go free once the money was paid.

Enraged, Farhat and ASF went to the Supreme Court — the first acid attack case to be taken to the highest court — where judges overturned the high court ruling within minutes.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took a personal interest in the case, and recommended that the government pass new legislation to control the sale of acid and increase punishment for acid attacks.

Masood says industrial-strength acid used in cotton processing can be bought by anyone for just a few dollars.

“Because of its easy accessibility to the general public, for very stupid domestic issues they will just throw acid on each other,” she said.

“It does not only destroy a person's face but it destroys a person's life.”

Also key would be the introduction of a law requiring the attacker to pay for their victim's painful and expensive treatment and counselling.

ASF has been pushing for such laws for years, but now hopes a bill will be tabled in parliament this month.

“They should, with relevant amendments, pass it unanimously and we don't expect the government to unnecessarily delay the process or create any blocks,” said parliamentarian Marvi Memon, acknowledging the process could take months.

Without Farhat, these steps may never have been made, and she remains dedicated to helping other victims, coaching Bibi through her treatments and helping her come to terms with her future.

“I encourage other acid attack victims and tell them that they should continue fighting for their rights and should not hesitate to come out of their homes, they should come forward,” Farhat told AFP.

[Solid Beast]

Good to see this issue being raised up and hopefully it will be properly addressed through sound jurisprudence. Can anyone more intimate with such scenarios shed light on why exactly people throw acid on innocent girl's faces? Is it because they want Solid to come down and kick their *** ? No seriously, I've always tried to understand but never quite got the concept.

[Neo]

Acid Throwing on Girls and Boys in Pakistan

By Amna Gilani
Apr 22nd, 2008

Hatred makes a human an animal and hatred compels a human to inflict any kind of horror on the fellow human being. The easy and affordable nature of acid has made it the mostly used weapon of revenge. Husbands use it to punish their wives, boys use it to punish their defected girl friends or boy friends, and people use it to punish their enemies by throw and run.

Women are the mostly suffered victims of acid attack, especially in the rural areas. I recently visited a village near Sialkot to attend a marriage ceremony and came across a lady with horribly burnt face, neck and arms. Her story is gut-wrenching, gory and ghastly. She is a typical embodiment of the cruelty of the humans.

Razia Bibi was happily married with Bakhshish. Bakhshish was in the army and used to visit his house only once a month. One day last year, he was away at his duty, and Razia was alone at home with her “Daywer” (brother of Bakhshish), Aziz, and the mother of Bakhshish was out to market. Aziz came to his Razia and tried to seduce her. Razia protested and tried to get away, but wasn’t able to break the strong hold of Aziz. Aziz forcefully undressed Razia and started to grope her. The nude Razia was weeping and pleading with Aziz to leave her, then she broke away from Aziz and ran out of room. When she came out of room, Bakhshish mother entered the house and saw Razia nude. Bakhshish mother, without second thoughts started raising hell and Aziz came out after two minutes and feigned shock and surprise over her mother’s noise and over the nudity of Razia.

Razia went back in utter despair and pain, clothed herself and started convincing the ultra-angry mother of Bakhshish about her innocence. Then Bakhshish mother and Aziz tied Razia up and threw acid on her and threw her at her parent’s house, who rushed her to the hospital. It took Razia 6 hours to reach hospital after being thrown acid. She was divorced by Bakhshish and Aziz was on bail soon after he was arrested.

One of my very fast friend, Palwashay lives in Mardan and she told me a fresh incident in her neighbours, where a boy of 15 was the victim. It’s a common thing in the NWFP region (and some of the Punjabi regions) that males keep a boy as a friend. They often have a sexual relationship with the boy and they take care of that boy more than their families and everything else. But if the boy tries to defect or try to leave them, they just go mad and either kill the boy or maim him or throw acid on him.

Same was happened to Absar of Mardan. He became friend of Gul Agha who was of age 46 and used to be with him all the time. Another man Pari Gul of age 35 often tried to cajol Absar to leave Gul Agha and accept his friendship. At last Absar left Gul Agha and made nexus with Pari Gul. Gul Agha first tried to convince Absar to come back and upon his refusal threw acid on Absar and now Absar is in the hospital in a very critical condition. He is dying slowly and painfully.

There is no clear legislation for this crime and the perpetrators often get bail the next day when they are arrested. We as a society need to work together to eradicate this horrendous crime. What in the hell these NGOs are doing and what in the hell all these organizations of human rights are doing?

[Lady Macbeth]

I cant seem to comprehend the mindset of those who choose to pour/throw acid at peoples esp ladies faces.....

Maybe it is somesort of a deranged fantasy of a lunatic.....maybe its the desire to avenge himself against a woman/her family etc who might have spurned him......

In some cases it has been demonstrated that acid pourers/thowers are at least ''partly'' motivated by sexual desire as well.....so in other words it is a form of rape really.

We must also decide the question of whether pouring/throwing acid is an adaptation or merely a by-product of other voilent adaptations. Over time the threat itself has evolved into action/theory....there was a time when men esp in developing countries ''with the intent'' would just threaten, now its just splish splash and off we dash (sorry dont mean to poke fun of the serious matter by the rhyme)....

Whatever it is.....horrible, ghastly and stomach churning act.....the perpetrator should be made to suffer before the same is done to him/her.......and then left to rot in jail for all eternity!