ACID ATTACKS ON WOMEN IN PAKISTAN

(Saqib Afzaal, )

COLUMN BY SIDRA SAQIB 7-3-23
Throwing acid is considered worse than murder. However, unfortunately throwing acid is getting much common in Pakistan. Recently, a woman in Lahore was attacked with acid because she refused a proposal of marriage. According to an independent estimate, between 2005 and 2022 some 9,340 people fell victim to acid attacks in Pakistan. Such attacks in the country will continue unless the state takes stringent measures to finish the evil-doer.

The atrocious act of attacking human beings with acid is, tragically, a common threat that women face in Pakistan. According to the Acid Survivors Trust International, 80% of acid attack victims are women, making it part of gender-based violence. Although men are also targeted by attackers, the issue affects women disproportionately and is more likely to occur in societies with pronounced gender inequality. This practice perpetuates gender inequality and reflects the poor position of women in the Pakistani society, who are at serious risk of attacks at any moment, not only from strangers but often also from their own husbands and family members.

Acid attacks were outlawed in 2011 in the Pakistani criminal justice system and the punishment for such an attack was set to life imprisonment. The sale of acid and other corrosive substances was also made illegal, in the same attempt to eliminate this form of violence. Even though these measures were implemented by the government of Pakistan, they are not effectively enforced. The attacks continue and the ease with which the chemical is available in most parts of the country is surprising. An investigation carried out by Pakistani private news channel SAMAA TV revealed that bottles of acid were freely available at a local chemical shop for a mere 150 Rupees, even though the minimum fine for an acid attack is set to 1 million Rupees.

Frequent reasons that perpetrators cite for attacking a woman with acid include suspicions of cheating in a marriage, disputes over land ownership or general family disputes. Fathers will attack their daughters with acid for “looking at boys”, and potential suitors will attack women for denying their marriage proposals. They are often an expression of the worst form of domestic violence, stemming from the patriarchal culture of the Pakistani society, in which women are seen as commodities and are continuously objectified. Not only that, but survivors of attacks live in fear of reporting to the police, since the rule of law in the country is weak and perpetrators often go unpunished. This may also be due to the fear of reprisal by the perpetrators.

Even if the estimated attacks that go unreported are still more than the ones that make it to a police station, the official numbers of reported acid attacks dropped after 2014. In 2017 Pakistan became the only country in the world in which violence against women decreased in any capacity, due to the decrease in the number of acid attacks reported after the year 2014. Between 2014 and 2016 a 52% reduction in the number of acid attacks was reported, which led many to believe that positive change in the advancement of minority rights was being recorded in Pakistan. However, the previously discussed issue of under-reporting of cases due to social stigma and gender inequality means that the decline in officially reported cases should be taken with a grain of salt, since they do not reflect the accurate numbers. To attest to this, the head of the burn unit at the largest hospital in Multan, Dr Naheed Ahmad, states that there has in fact not been a decrease in the attack victims coming into the hospital.

Some encouraging legal developments include the Acid and Burn Crime Bill passed in 2018. This bill mandates that free healthcare and rehabilitation services be given to victims of acid burns in order to help them cope with the physical and psychological disabilities that acid attacks entail. Even though the bill sets life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for a murder through acid attack, an amendment to the bill mentions that if someone intentionally causes harm but does not kill the victim the maximum imprisonment they can serve must not exceed 7 years. The bill was moved in parliament by an avid women’s rights proponent, Marvi Memon, who mentioned that its aim was to specifically criminalise acid attacks and expediate the legal proceedings to benefit the victims. Furthermore, in 2020 the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that “mercy petitions” filed by victims in which they legally state that they forgive the perpetrator of an acid attack will not be given any consideration in legal proceedings due to the gravity of the crime of an acid attack. This step taken by the Court is incredibly important in combatting the culture surrounding reporting crimes as a woman in Pakistan, which is usually marred with fear, shame and disappointment in the justice system.

However, conviction rates for acid attacks have dropped from 2018 to 2020, the last year in which the ASF Pakistan has collected data for acid attacks. This is not encouraging, since it means that less people actually get convicted of the crime after a trial. Furthermore, the advent of COVID-19 has pushed the topic of combatting acid attack violence back on the agenda of Pakistani officials, since combatting the virus has taken front-stage.

The rights of women, as a minority group, are frequently overlooked in an attempt to shield the ones responsible for the violation of their rights, something which must change! Women are frequently being denied their human rights in many different practices that are still occurring in the Pakistani society, like honour killings and forced marriages. Perpetrators are still rarely captured and women in poor families are especially vulnerable. More than 90% of the reported cases are not settled because of the perpetrators’ wealth. Rich individuals are more easily able to evade the legal system and the police charges. The police is reluctant to challenge their social status, which means that women suffering from the aftermath of an attack, especially the poor women who are most vulnerable, are not getting the justice they deserve!

Like most social change, reforms against acid attacks in Pakistan are still moving too slow for Pakistani women of today, who are still at a high risk of acid attacks. Women in Pakistan are a minority group, marginalised and discriminated against in the law and in society. ASF Pakistan speaks about how throwing acid in a woman’s face is a normalised act of anger and in the patriarchal Pakistani society. Women must not be objects to claim and to oppress, and revenge should not be sought from a “disobedient” woman by attacking her face and body with acid. The Pakistani government must start enforcing its laws against acid attacks in order to bring true change and respect for women’s rights in the country.

One of the most horrifying forms of gender-based violence in Pakistan is throwing acid (usually sulphuric acid ) on women with an aim to take revenge, disfigure and harm the person. It has long-lasting physical and psychological consequences.

Pakistan is on the list of countries with an incidence of acid attacks on women. The opponents are most often relatives or rivals, sometimes for a woman’s affections or in non- gender-based attacks, opponents provoked by property disputes or other disagreements.

Nearly, 150 incidents of acid attacks are reported every year in Pakistan out of which about 50 occurred in Balochistan. Acid throwing is also a phenomenon in South Punjab as well as in parts of Sindh, being randomly spread throughout the country.

Acid throwing usually occurs when a male perceives that a female related/ unrelated to him is usually involved in some act which is appeared to be outside the limits of marriage or social norms. It is requested to Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) take serious notice of this issue and tries to eliminate it. Looking forward to your efforts in the above-mentioned matter
man threw acid on a woman in Lahore on Monday (6-3-23) allegedly after she refused to marry him, police said.

The suspect is currently on the run and police are making efforts to apprehend him.

According to the first information report (FIR) of the incident, registered on the victim's complaint, the woman was attacked by the suspect in Johar Town. The FIR was registered against a man who had allegedly previously threatened her under Section 336-B (harm by use of corrosive substance) of the Pakistan Penal Code. The woman, who is a domestic worker, said she was walking to a house where she worked around 8am when she saw the suspect and an unidentified man waiting on a motorcycle near Jagawar Chowk. The suspect offered to drop the woman off at her employer's residence and when she refused to accompany him, the man threw acid kept in a steel jug on her face. As a result, the woman's face, neck and hands were severely burned, the FIR said.

Following the attack, the woman ran back to her house and her brother took her to Jinnah Hospital.

In her statement, the woman said the suspect had wanted to "forcefully marry" her and when she refused, he threatened to "not leave [her] capable of anything". In this connection, she said the man had thrown acid on her with the intention to kill her.

There were 9,340 victims of acid attacks in Pakistan between 2005 and 2022, according to a Dawn article.

Striking with an easily acquired weapon such as acid causes irreversible damage with an effortless throw, as opposed to other readily available weapons like knives, which require forceful attacks with precision. To conclude, i plea to the government to take strong steps to finish acid attacks as soon as possible because a women under attack of acid died every day not once


 

Saqib Afzaal
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