Every year in Pakistan, about 100 cases of acid throwing are reported to the police.
Although media has been showing reports and highlighting those cases, unfortunately no one is doing any effort to remedy acid attack victims. They are left on their own. Many acid attack victims are traumatised physically, psychologically and socially. Women who have survived acid attacks have great difficulty in finding work and if 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 documented these women in her documentary, Saving Face. She has made a great effort in raising awareness about this issue.
She has given a message through her documentary that an acid attacked woman also has the same right to live a happy and normal life as anyone else. Victims of such violence are entitled to equal protection and enforcement of the law and the government should create an independent mechanism in each province to monitor and oversee police treatment of women victims of violence.
KARAR ALI
Karachi