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Story of Irum Saeed
Irum
Saeed, 30, is a resident of Rawalpindi. She recalls how 12 years ago,
when she was only 17, a boy, whose marriage proposal she had rejected,
followed her to her college. The street he chose for the scene of crime
was narrow, and Irum was unable to escape his hot pursuit of her. The
rejected boy proceeded to throw a jug full of acid on her. As she turned
to avoid this, he threw the remaining acid onto her back and shoulders,
badly burning them. The photograph was taken at her office at the Urdu
University of Islamabad, Pakistan, on Thursday, July 24, 2008. She has
undergone plastic surgery 25 times to try to recover from her scars.
Story of Shameem Akhter
Shameem
Akhter's face was mutilated with acid when she was only 17. Now aged
20, she is still unable to comprehend how she fell victim to criminals,
who kidnapped and raped her for revenge. Then they left her face
mutilated, hoping her appearance would silence her forever and ensure
that she would never marry. They have succeeded in destroying her life
and much of her spirit. Shameem has undergone plastic surgery 10 times
to try to repair from her scars.
Najaf
Sultana, now 16, of Lahore, was burned by her father at the age of five
while she was sleeping, apparently because he didn't want to have
another girl in the family. The burning left Najaf blind. Abandoned by
both her parents, she now lives with relatives. She has undergone
plastic surgery around 15 times to try to repair her scars.
Story of Shehnaz Usman
Shehnaz
Usman, now 36, of Lahore was burned with acid by a relative due to a
family dispute five years ago. She has undergone plastic surgery 10
times.
Story of Shahnaz Bibi
Shahnaz
Bibi, now 35, of Lahore, was burned with acid ten years ago by a
relative due to a family dispute. She has never undergone plastic
surgery.
Story of Kanwal Kayum
Kanwal
Kayum, now 26, of Lahore was burned with acid one year ago by a boy
whom she rejected for marriage. She has never undergone plastic surgery.
Story of Munira Asef
Munira
Asef, now 23, of Lahore was burned with acid five years ago by a boy
whom she rejected for marriage. She has undergone plastic surgery 7
times to try to heal her scars.
Story of Bushra Shari
Bushra
Shari, 39, of Lahore was burned with acid thrown by her husband five
years ago because she wanted to divorce him. She has undergone plastic
surgery 25 times.
Story of Memuna Khan
Memuna Khan, 21, of Karachi was burned by a group of boys who threw acid on
her to settle a dispute between their family and Menuna's. She has
undergone plastic surgery 21 times.
Story of Zainab Bibi
Zainab
Bibi, 17, of Islamabad was burned five years ago by throwing acid on
her face a boy whom she rejected for marriage. She has undergone plastic
surgery several times.
Story of Naila Farhat
Naila
Farhat, 19, of Islamabad was burned five years ago by throwing acid on
her face by a boy for rejecting his marriage proposal. She has undergone
plastic surgery several times.
The case of Naila Farhat was brought to
the Supreme Court of Pakistan in November 2008 and received great
publicity. The perpetrator was sentenced to 12 years in prison and
ordered to pay Rupees1.2 million in damages. This represented a landmark
decisions in dealing with gender violence, but the judgment could
hardly stem the menace of acid-throwing. This was also somewhat
exceptional case in the landscape of acid attacks in Pakistan. In most
cases, measures, if at all taken, are still disproportionately low as
compared to the sufferings inflicted by the attacks.
Saira
Liaqat, 26, of Lahore was 15, when she was married to a relative. The
families had agreed she would join him only after finishing school. But
then he demanded her to live with him after the marriage and eventually
attacked her with acid when his demand was not met. Saira has undergone
plastic surgery 9 times.
Story of Zubaida Khatoon
Zubaida
Khatoon was burnt by her husband to resolve an argument. Her husband
had made it a hobby of frequently marrying women from families to lower
economic groups. When she discovered this, Zubaida protested his
actions. He tried to settle the argument by setting her on fire after
pouring kerosene on her. Raising an objection to his lechery was all
needed for her to bear these scars.
Story of Nasreen Sharif
Nasreen
Sharif, 23, was once a beautiful girl. When she turned 14, her cousin
poured a bottle of sulphuric acid on her face as she slept. His excuse
was that he couldn't stand other boys whistling at her (because of he
beauty) when she crossed the street. She no longer bears any resemblance
to that youthful beauty. "My skin melted and my hair burned away. I am now blind, I have no ears and I have no sense of smell", says Nasreen.
Story of Parveen Akhtar
Parveen
Akhtar, 38, from Jehlum found her life changed when her husband asked
her for her written permission to allow him to remarry. Her refusal to
it angered him and he tried to murder her by dousing her body with
kerosene and setting it alight. He portrayed the incident as an accident
and told people that he wanted to remarry because she cannot bear
children.
Nearly
25 years ago, newly-married Bashiran Bibi (now 57), a resident of
Sukheki, Pakistan, was pushed by her mother-in-law into a coal stove.
The family proclaimed it to be an accident. Her husband blamed it on a
fit of epilepsy that she suffers from. Resolved to her fate, Bashiran
continues to live with her husband and in-laws and gave birth to 5
children after this "accident". Whatever money is donated to Bashiran's
cause, her husband uses it for himself and doesn't spend any on her
treatment.
Story of Mumtaz Bibi
Mumtaz
Bibi, 39, from Khairpur, Pakistan, came under her husband's wrath while
trying to protect her daughters. Her offence was that she refused to
let him selling off her girls, shielding them with her life. Because of
her lack of compliance, her husband poured acid all over her body, then
proceeded to divorce her.
Story of Tasneem Shahzad
24-year-old Tasneem Shahzad's story is
repeated all too often. A girl, too poor to bring much demanded dowry,
she bore the wrath of greedy in-laws. Tasneem's ex-husband was an
addict. It was left to her to support her own household as well as that
of her extended family. Tasneem worked in several homes to support all
those who depended on her. However, that was not pleasing enough for her
greedy in-laws. One day, her clothes were set on fire by her rapacious
in-laws and she suffered severe burns. They then proceeded to try and
prove that the incident was an accident.
Rays of Hope
Amidst this grim state of affairs for
the unfortunate women of Pakistan, the Asian Human Rights Commission
(AHRC) is working to expose the extent of the gender-violence in
Pakistan and the misogynist mindset behind it, which is spreading within
the Pakistani Middle Class. The AHRC is working closely with
acid-attack victims as part of its involvement for denouncing human
rights violations across Asia.
The Depilex Smileagain Foundation
is another organization, which is working with victims of acid-attack
to help them smile again, however impossible a task it may appear: they
are trying to make impossible possible. In fact, DSF is working in
partnership with the Italian NGO Smileagain Foundation that believes, “There is every possibility that these survivors can manage to live the rest of their lives with dignity, with some help.”
A team of Italian doctors, linked to Italian Smileagain Foundation,
visit Pakistan every three months to conduct operations on those
victims in an effort to give them back as normal a life as possible.