Your Thoughts Re: Women punished by having acid poured on them? (422 hits)
Helping acid attack victims ...Fifteen years ago, she {Bushra} went to the wedding of her brother. It was a happy occasion. There was music and laughter. When she returned to her husband, her in-laws demanded money.They told her it was tradition to bring money back after a wedding.
They wanted 50,000 rupees – almost $600. She told them "I don't have that kind of money. My brothers don't have this kind of money either." It was not what they wanted to hear.
They called her a liar. They beat her repeatedly. Then they tied her up. Her mother-in law grabbed her hair and yanked her head back. "I was terrified," said Bushra.
Her voice quivers, remembering the moment. She gulps hard, chocking back the tears. "Then they put a cloth on a stick, soaked it in acid and her husband rubbed it over the side of my face".
'It burned'
She remembers the pain, but this is not where her ordeal ended. "His uncle snatched the stick and rubbed it across the other side of my face. He forced open my mouth and dripped it on my tongue. It burned".
Bushra does not remember what happened next. She passed out from the pain. She only knows what happened next from what people tell her. Her family tied her body to a ceiling fan and set the house on fire.
They told people in the village on the outskirts of Lahore that Bushra had tried to commit suicide. But people did not just stand around. They burst their way into the house and grabbed her limp body. They took her to hospital.
For a year, she stayed in hospital. She drifted in and out of consciousness. She could not see, could not open her eyes, but she could hear. And she heard people express their disgust at how she looked and run away. And those who stayed made her worried and tense.
She went to live with her sister. When some of her family saw her they fainted. Her body was skinny, but her head was massive. She heard them say, "This is a woman but it doesn't look like a woman because she has no face". And she cried.
That was fifteen years ago. Bushra has gone through 28 operations. "Slowly my face has got better" she tells me. "Maybe if they could fix my nose it would be better".
She would like to be a beautician. And now she is training in a salon in Lahore. It is run by Musarat Misbah. This elegant, articulate woman decided to help Pakistan’s acid burns victims after a chance encounter five and a half years ago.
No forgiveness
Each case brings new heartache, a story worse than the last. There is 17-year-old Naseera with her flawless skin and long blonde hair. He took revenge because she rejected his proposal.
She says "It was like burning in hell." Acid burned through her upper body melting away the skin.
Then there is Shamim who was verbally abused by a street gang. When she rejected their advances, they kidnapped her, raped her and poured acid on her face, trying to silence her forever. She was just 17.
Bushra does not preach forgiveness. Her pain has been too long and too great.
"People are cruel towards young girls and the innocent. Divorce is one thing. If someone does not get along with someone else then its fine, get a divorce and move on.
"But to ruin someone's face, to set fire to someone or to pour acid on someone's face, people who do this, 20 or 25 of them should be hanged in public at once to strike fear into the hearts of people so that men realise that you cannot do this to a woman.
"I've even learned how to drive so that if I see my husband walking on the street I can kill him with my car".
There are no accurate figures for the number of acid attacks in Pakistan each year, but it is thought only a handful are actually reported to police. Even those cases are sometimes hard to pursue.
Misbah tells me: "I took one girl who had been attacked to the police station. The first question the officer asked was 'What did you do to deserve this?'"’
She continues to try to help the victims, and also change the way of thinking.
it does suck, eh?
Friday, January 22nd 2010 at 2:45PM
Jen Fad
Jen, Thanks for the riveting blog on this horrific tradition. I was aware of stonings and "Honor" killings but had no idea this was happening. God bless our Pakistani sisters and pray this stops happening.
Friday, January 22nd 2010 at 2:48PM
Shelby Johnson
First off, this is not Islam. Islam is peace. And I can't believe the Pakistani men who do this waste their time putting out a bunch of foolishness saying the Quran teaches them to kill and abuse women. Nowhere in the Quran does it advocate such behavior.
Saturday, January 23rd 2010 at 4:32PM
Siebra Muhammad
There is nothing in this article or the video about religion.
Sunday, January 24th 2010 at 9:15AM
Jen Fad
Again I repeat there is nothing in this article about religion--- Brother Robert Powell --- who I have to delete your comments because they are irrelevant to this blog --- This blog is about the attack on innocent sisters in other parts of the world regardless to their ethnicity --- Women are human beings who are to be treated with respect and diginity.
Sunday, January 24th 2010 at 9:55AM
Jen Fad
(negro)
Sunday, January 24th 2010 at 9:56AM
Jen Fad
Jen said: Women are human beings who are to be treated with respect and diginity.
My name is Siebra and I APPROVE this message!!!
Sunday, January 24th 2010 at 2:04PM
Siebra Muhammad
negress or negro?
siebra says quran,
I said why worry at BIA about a 15 year old issue in A NATION OF 200 Million Muslims with their own laws and customs: while you can talk about 2 Million BIA women in the New Jersey and New York area that for 15 years have experience, female degredation, rape and murder.
not only are you Racialist deleter, but a s*xualist-intimidated by a maleIntellect.
And by the way, in a Muslim nation if a woman and a man are seen by 4 witnesses committing adultery or fornication, the severest penalty is Death for both...
if any negro in ny or nj, is caught by 4 witness on camera-i believe it ends up a similar disgrace, mess and crime.......
