Acid attacks on Pakistani wives 'at all time high'

[MULUBJA]

Pakistan acid victims rebuild ruined lives

Saira Liaqat was attacked several years ago, but has plans for the future

Retired plastic surgeon Charles Viva has treated many acid burns victims

Manzoor says the attack followed a row over doing the dishes


At four years old, Gul-e-Mehtab already knows what she wants to do when she grows up.

This little girl, whose name means "moonlight flower", wants to be a doctor in order to heal her own mother, Manzoor Attiqa.

"She says: 'Mama when I grow up, I will become a doctor. I will treat you, and then you will be perfect'," Manzoor says, with a proud smile.

Twenty-two-year-old Manzoor is a patient in surgical ward 10 in Benazir Bhutto hospital in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.
Manzoor Attiqa
Manzoor says the attack followed a row over doing the dishes

The ward is a cluster of women in brightly coloured shawls, who share the same scars and the same trauma. All have been attacked with acid.

There are no reliable national statistics, but campaigners estimate that there may be as many as 150 victims every year.

It is an intimate crime - often carried out in the family home, by husbands or in-laws.

Manzoor's attack followed a row over doing the dishes.

"It was seven o'clock in the morning, and I had just finished making breakfast," she says.

"My daughter was crying so I picked her up, but her grandmother said: 'Leave her and wash the dishes.' I told her that I would wash them, and that we had the whole day ahead of us. After this, they started beating me. I was unconscious for four or five days. I woke up in hospital in Lahore."

While she lay unconscious, Manzoor was drenched in acid. It devoured her lower lip, neck and shoulders and left her chin fused to her chest.

But when she speaks of the in-laws she blames for the attack, there is no bitterness. In spite of her injuries, and her suffering, she says that she has forgiven them.

"They are like my own mother and sisters," she says. "I just pray God shows them the right path, so they can't do this kind of thing to anybody else. I forgave them, so that they could realise they did wrong."

Get the sellers

When we meet Manzoor, she is about to have her sixth surgery - performed free by a group of Pakistani experts, and British volunteers, led by plastic surgeon Charles Viva.

The retired NHS doctor, with a snow-white walrus moustache, has spent decades treating the poor around the globe, including many victims of acid burns.

Charles Viva, plastic surgeon
Retired plastic surgeon Charles Viva has treated many acid burns victims

"I feel very passionately angry about this because God has made us whole, and for somebody to do this causes a lot of distress for the patients and their families," he says. "We do what we can to give the women back their dignity."

In Manzoor's case, this means grafting skin from her leg on to her neck, so that she can lift her head fully.

Mr Viva wants action against those who sell the acid, not just those who throw it.

"I think we need some very strong deterrents to prevent this happening," he said.

"I think it's essential that the government and the authorities should target the people who perpetrate the crime, and those who supply the acid. They are just as guilty for giving the acid."

Two hours later, Manzoor is back in ward 10. Her surgery was a success, but it won't be her last.

'It didn't end my life'

Opposite her, in bed nine, Saira Liaqat is recovering from her latest operation - her 18th. Her face is still bandaged, but already she is sitting up, supported by her mother, Gulshan.

A medical file rests at the end of the bed, with photos of a striking girl in a gold headdress. That was Saira seven years ago, before she was attacked.

Saira Liaqat, after surgery, supported by her mother, Gulshan
Saira Liaqat was attacked several years ago, but has plans for the future

Acid has erased any resemblance to the pretty girl of the past, but it has not crushed her spirit. Since the attack, she has trained as a beautician.

"I want to own my own beauty parlour," she says.

"I want people to say 'that's the girl who suffered and didn't lose hope'. I want to support my parents as well as a son can. I want to show that person that even though he threw acid in my face, it didn't end my life."

Saira's husband is still on trial for her attack. If convicted, he could get between five and 14 years. Gulshan wants an eye for an eye.

"He should either get the death penalty, or have acid thrown in his face, so he knows how it feels," she says.

"The law is weak in Pakistan. If criminals like him are given a tough punishment immediately, then nobody will do this kind of thing."

Campaigners are calling for the introduction of life sentences. They say that while Pakistan is finally waking up to this issue, there is still a long way to go.

"At the highest level, people like the chief justice are taking acid violence very seriously," says Valerie Khan of the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), which helps many of the victims.

"In the past six months, we are seeing higher sentences being handed down. But the vast majority of women are unable to even register a case. And police are still turning a blind eye, due to corruption and social pressure."

While she slept

One of many still waiting for justice is 23-year-old Naseera Bibi.

She is friendly and talkative, in spite of her debilitating injuries.

The acid thrown in her face, while she slept, ate through her nose and both of her eyes. She believes her husband was the culprit.


I've learnt how to knit sweaters and my children are back with me. I can't just sit around and lose hope
Naseera Bibi

She says she heard his voice next to her, as the acid melted her skin, telling her to say it was someone else.

"I started screaming. Then I heard my husband telling me whoever asks you who did it, just say it was Javed. I told him that I haven't seen anybody. He kept insisting whoever asks you, just say Javed did it."

Naseera's main concern now is how to provide for her children, without her sight.

"I've been taken to about 10 doctors, but there doesn't seem to be a chance of restoring my eyesight," she says.

"I've been very upset about this, because I have become a burden. But the ASF sent me to a school to study. I've learnt how to knit sweaters, and my children are back with me. I can't just sit around and lose hope."

Like other acid attack survivors in ward 10, Nazeera has been robbed of her looks, but not of her courage.

She has two dreams for the future - to send her children to school, and for her attacker to be punished.

Very Bad. Let the wisdom prevail . Let not these type of attack happen again.

 

[Dubious]

100 Women: The salon helping acid attack victims
By Shaimaa KhalilBBC News, Lahore
29 October 2014
From the sectionAsia

Beauticians are hard at work in a high-end salon in an affluent area of Lahore in Pakistan. The sound of women's chatter and laughter is mixed with the continuous roars of hairdryers.

It is hardly a place you would associate with acid attack victims. But for more than a decade Musarat Misbah's salon has been a refuge for women who've been attacked by acid.

It started when a woman came to Musarat's salon with her face covered.

"When she removed her veil, I had to sit down. There was no life in my legs," Musarat said.

"In front of me was a woman with no face. Her eyes and nose were gone and her neck and face were stuck together so she couldn't move them."

The woman hoped that Musarat, a veteran of the beauty business, would help her look better.

Eyes burned shut
Musarat called doctors and asked them to help the woman - and thus began her charity work for acid attack victims.

In the last 10 years, Musarat has helped hundreds of acid attack victims. With donations, she pays for their medical treatment and then trains them for the workplace. Some now work at her salon.

For more than a decade Musarat Misbah's beauty salon has been a refuge for women attacked by acid
Bushra Shafi is one of the most experienced beauticians. She is also an acid attack survivor.

Bushra was attacked by her in-laws as punishment for not paying enough dowry money.

"My husband, brother-in-law and father-in-law poured acid on me - my mother-in-law tied me down from the neck. They didn't take me to the hospital for 10 days and my face swelled so much it was just a big slab of meat," Bushra said.

Bushra went to Musarat for help. Her eyes were burned shut, her nose was gone and parts of her ears had melted.

She spent years undergoing operations and now, after 150 of them, she has a chance to start a new life.

"I'm grateful," she says. "I've got my eyesight back, my hearing back, I have a nose I can breathe from, a tongue, I can speak again."

The scars on her face cannot hide her smile as she speaks.

Musarat's charity is one of very few organisations in Pakistan that have taken on this cause. She says the government needs to do much more to help these women.

"Because it is a female-orientated issue, it comes right at the bottom of their [the government's] priority list. Also, they say it tarnishes the image of our country. This is why it is hushed up and swept under the carpet."

'Days before my wedding'
There have been at least 160 acid attacks recorded this year alone but charities say the real number is likely to be much higher.

Many victims keep quiet because they are afraid they will be attacked again.

And even when some cases are reported and make it to court, the perpetrators rarely face justice.

"Because of the social stigma to this there's so much pressure on the victims and their families," Saad Rasool, a lawyer working on a new law to criminalise acid attacks, says.

"Many families settle outside court and no one gets convicted," he adds.

Huma Shahid was attacked in January. She was a lecturer and on her way back from university. Someone threw acid on her just outside her house and escaped on a motorbike.

"It was 10 days before my wedding," she said.

"I was about to marry the man who adored me, but all of a sudden my life changed."

Huma spent months in hospital and says she still needs more operations.

Her face is still covered with a protective mask, which she hides with a headscarf.

She says the man who poured acid on her is still at large.

Huma says she hasn't been able to look at her face in the mirror since the attack.

"It is so painful - whenever I reflect - I'm overwhelmed by the sheer brutality of the crime. People call me a strong woman. But I'm not that strong to see myself like this," she said.

Some acid attack victims Musarat has helped now work at her salon
Huma adds she never expected this would happen to her. She thought acid attacks were a problem for people from poorer areas who were less well-educated.

"I think it's not about being educated or not. It's a mindset. People believe that these attacks on women are somehow justified. You notice that the majority of cases are women. They are considered a weaker gender," she said.

Huma has taken her case to court. She says that despite everything, she wants to get on with her life and her work - but it is not always easy.

"It's very frustrating at times to realise that the person who actually did this to me has not been caught yet. Sometimes I feel helpless."

Despite the fact she still faces a number of operations Huma says she hopes one day she'll be able to look in the mirror again.

The BBC's 100 Women season runs online, on BBC World News TV and on BBC World Service radio from 27-29 October. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #100Women.


100 Women: The salon helping acid attack victims - BBC News


So even having a law it is useless? Or have they been added?

Two new sections will be added in the Pakistan Penal Code under this law and a sentence than can be upto a life term is prescribed in addition to a maximum of Rs. 500,000 fine.

Cheadle surgeon returns to Karachi, helping the disfigured victims of horrific acid attacks

• 
  
  • 16:25, 8 MARCH 2015
    
    • BY ABIGAIL O'LEARY
    
    Reconstruction expert splashes out £50,000 of his own cash to help change the lives of women
    
  • 
  • Dr Asim Shahmalak travelled to Pakistan, helping women scarred by acid attacks
  • A surgeon is returning to Pakistan to help women scarred in acid attacks, often for doing nothing more than spurning a man’s advances.
    
    Reconstruction expert Asim Shahmalak, from Cheadle, spent £50,000 of his own money taking a team from his hair transplant Crown Clinic to help change the lives of seven disfigured women.
    
    Last week, Dr Shahmalak, who performed eyelash, eyebrow and hair transplants on the women, returned to Karachi to review the women’s cases, and is even returning for a second self-funded mission later in the year.
    
    He said: “There is so much more work to do, I am just glad I’m able to make a difference to these women’s lives.”
    
    
    
    
    Kanwal Ashar, 24, was given two new eyebrows and new eyelashes thanks to Dr Shahmalak’s work after she was attacked with acid by an obsessed stalker.
    
    She struggled to find work after the attack and said the surgery is helping to rebuild her life.
    
    Kanwal told Dr Shahmalak: “I can go to a wedding now and show my face now I’ve got my eyebrows back. You have changed my life.”
  • The father-of-two surgeon also helped Kanwal Qayum, 27, after she was doused in acid while sleeping by a friend who was jealous of her new air hostess job.
  • Kanwal has previously had extensive surgery on her face and neck, but Dr Shahmalak gave her two permanent eyebrows using hair harvested from the back of her scalp.
    
    But victims of acid attacks aren’t the only benefactors of his work, and Asma Fayyaz, 23, was helped by the charitable surgeon after she fell into a pan of boiling fat, leaving her with horrific scars.
    
    She had a new right eyebrow and a right eyelash transplanted by Dr Shahmalak and the team from the Crown Clinic.
    
    Some of the stories are heartbreaking, with one women, Mona Bhatti, 42, being made the victim of an acid attack after being shunned by society following a sex change.
    
    Another six-year-old girl was doused in acid by her father after she refused to go to school, but sadly she was too young for surgery.
    
    Dr Shahmalak is one of only nine surgeons in the world qualified for this surgery, and has also trained local doctors so his work can continue when he leaves.
    
    He said: “Their stories were heartbreaking - scarred for life because you want to better yourself and work as an air hostess.
    
    “Doused with acid because you turned down a man’s proposal - people were treated better in the middle ages.”

Cheadle suregon returns to Pakistan to help victims of acid attacks - Manchester Evening News


Dr Asim Shahmalak (born 2 April 1961) is a British hair transplant surgeon and broadcaster, and proponent of such surgery. In 2009, he performed the UK's first eyelash transplant, and he has treated a number of British celebrity patients, including medical broadcaster Dr Christian Jessen, actor David Fleeshman and Calum Best, the son of Manchester United star George Best.

Having begun his career as a general surgeon in the Republic of Ireland in 1990, he joined the National Health Service (NHS) as a specialist doctor in general surgery in 2001, practising until 2011 when he dedicated himself full-time to private hair transplant surgery at his own Crown Clinic. He has appeared as an expert on a number of television and radio programmes, including the Channel 4 show Embarrassing Bodies, talking about his techniques and demonstrating his surgery. He also written and commented on hair transplant surgery and associated issues for a number of media publications and blogs in the United Kingdom.

Asim Shahmalak was born in Karachi, Pakistan, the son of Mr Hatimali Shahmalak and Mrs Mehfooza Shahmalak, and educated at St Bona Venture's High School, Sindh, before studying for his medical degree (MBBS) graduating from the Sindh Medical College,University of Karachi, Pakistan, in 1988. He trained as a general surgeon, moving to the Republic of Ireland in 1990 to take up a post as a Senior House Officer in General Surgery. In 1997 he qualified as a Specialist Registrar in general surgery. He became a member of the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) in 1995 before moving to the UK in 1996.

Dr Shahmalak worked as a specialist doctor in General Surgery for the Warrington & Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust between 2001 and 2011. He began working privately as a hair transplant surgeon for The Hospital Group, Europe's largest private provider of cosmetic surgery, in 2005, leaving in 2007. He founded his own Crown Clinic in 2007 alongside work for the NHS and The Transform Medical Group (2007–2010). In 2011 he left the NHS to devote himself full-time to hair restoration and aesthetic surgery at his Crown Clinic in Manchester and Harley Street.

Plastic Surgeon Offers £50,000 Of Surgery To Help Acid Attack Survivors Rebuild Their Lives
The Huffington Post UK | By Natasha Hinde

Posted: 04/03/2015 16:36 GMT Updated: 04/03/2015 17:59 GMT

Women left disfigured by horrific acid attacks have undergone specialist surgery, free of charge, by a British plastic surgeon.

Asim Shahmalak has performed over £50,000 worth of reconstructive surgery, including intricate eyelash and eyebrow transplants, on six women who were left disfigured in a series of unrelated attacks.

Some were attacked for doing nothing more than warding off a man's advances.

Kanwal Asher, 24

In Pakistan, acid attacks are not uncommon. In fact 143 acid attacks were registered by the Acid Survivors Foundation in 2013.

More often than not, the victims are women or young girls.

Father-of-two, Dr Shahmalak, said that he wept when he first heard what had happened to the women: "Their stories were heartbreaking - scarred for life because you want to better yourself and work as an air hostess.

"Doused with acid because you turned down a man's proposal - people were better treated in the Middle Ages."

Some of the victims had been attacked with sulphuric acid, which can be bought for 15p per bottle on the streets of Karachi where the women live.

And in an even more heartbreaking twist, the women were all shunned by society after the attacks happened, which made finding work and a steady source of income almost impossible.

When Shahmalak heard of their plight, he took a team from the Crown Clinic hair transplant centre to Pakistan and performed hair, eyebrow and eyelash transplants on six women, with a view to help them rebuild their lives.

One of Shahmalak's patients, Kanwal Ashar, 24 (pictured above) had been working in a beauty salon before she was viciously attacked by a man who had been stalking her.

After refusing her obsessor's marriage proposal, Ashar was left covered in acid and scarred for life.

Kanwal Qayyoum, 29

Meanwhile Kanwal Qayyoum, 29 (above), was doused in acid after telling a jealous former friend that she was starting a new job as an air hostess. She was attacked while she slept.

Mona Bhatti, 42, was shunned by Pakistani society after having a sex change operation. Born a man, she was splattered with acid while begging on the streets.

Asma Fayyaz, 23

But Dr Shahmalak isn't just helping acid attack survivors. One patient, Asma Fayyaz, 23 (above), was horrifically scarred three years ago after falling into a pan of boiling fat when she slipped in her kitchen.

One year after the women's surgery, Dr Shahmalak made a return trip to Karachi to check up on their progress.

He said: "It was wonderful to meet the women again and see how their lives had been improved by the surgery.

“It was incredibly moving to see the smiles on their faces after we performed the surgery. They had given up hope of ever getting help because the Government in Pakistan cannot afford to do anything for them. We were their last hope."

“These women are too frightened of reprisals to tell the police who has attacked them," he added. "And even if they did, they have no faith that the culprits will be brought to justice.”

Later this year, the cosmetic surgeon from Manchester is planning a return trip to Karachi to help transform five other women who have been attacked with acid.

"There is so much more work to do," said Shahmalak. "I am just glad that I am able to make a difference to these women's lives."

Plastic Surgeon Offers £50,000 Of Surgery To Help Acid Attack Survivors Rebuild Their Lives

Disney Princesses As Acid Attack Survivors: Activist Alexsandro Palombo Says It's A 'Crime Against Humanity'
The Huffington Post UK | By Poorna Bell
Posted: 23/02/2015 15:34 GMT Updated: 23/02/2015 15:59 GMT

Activists and artists appropriating Disney princesses for critical causes that affect women, have made the cartoon characters empowering in a way they never were in film.

The latest is artist and activist Alexsandro Palombo who has launched a new series featuring much characters such as Snow White and Belle as women who have survived an acid attack.

Speaking to IB Times UK, he said: " I always used art as a powerful means of awareness. My art is against indifference, I want to shake consciences.

"If you're not outraged and don't react, if you stay silent in front of this atrocity, then you're just like those perpetrators of these inhumane acts.

"Disfiguring a woman with acid means to erase her identity and inflict a never ending pain. It's a crime of immense inhumanity that has nothing to do with modern civilisation."


Disney Princesses As Acid Attack Survivors: Activist Alexsandro Palombo Says It's A 'Crime Against Humanity'