Abandoned woman shifted to crisis centre

KOHAT: An Afghan woman, who was found abandoned after being subjected to violence, has been shifted to the Women’s Crisis Centre after she could not provide any information about her relatives or the ordeal she went through.

Legal adviser of the Women’s Crisis Centre said the 20-year-old woman – Niazmeena, who is also known as Maria – was found by a Suzuki driver a fortnight ago on the old Indus Highway. She had visible marks of violence and was in poor shape, the driver, Ayub, said.

He had immediately called the ‘Rescue 15’ centre after the woman’s condition started deteriorating. The police even took her to Jarma and Cheechana refugee camps to find her relatives but nobody recognised her.

She was then taken to the centre. Its legal adviser Musarat Shafi then took her to a hospital for first-aid and medical check-up.

Doctors had said, according to Ms Shafi, that the woman had been tortured so badly that she had lost her mental balance and become prone to fits.

The crisis centre has appealed to her relatives to take her home after completing legal formalities or contact Musarat Shafi, a lawyer by profession, during office hours.

Source: Dawn

Date:3/27/2007