EVERY year in Pakistan about 100 cases of acid throwing are reported to the police. Although the media has been showing reports and highlights those cases, but no one is making any effort for the remedy of acid-attack victims.
Women are affected by acid attacks across the country and they are surviving by themselves.
Many acid attack victims are traumatised physically, psychologically and socially.
Women who have survived acid attacks face much difficulty in finding work, and if they are unmarried, as many victims tend to be, they have very little chance of ever getting married.
Recently Pakistani journalist and documentary maker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy targeted these women in her documentary called ‘Saving face’. Her message through her documentary is
that an acid-affected woman also has the right to live a happy and normal life.
Women victims of such violence are entitled to equal protection.
The government should create an independent mechanism in each province to monitor and oversee police treatment of women victims of violence.
AHSAN ALI
Karachi
