A new dimension in acid attacks

Immediate and tough action needed

Dozens of people, mostly women, but also men and children are disfigured in acid attacks every year in Pakistan. The highest rate of the crime in 2013 was in Punjab where 56 per cent of the nationwide attacks were recorded. Acid attacks not only disfigure a person for life but also cause permanent disabilities, especially if the acid is sprayed on the eyes. The victims have to undergo operations and may need reconstruction work on lips and ears. In case of the head being affected hair transplant might be required. The treatment is costly and often beyond the means of the victims who, according to the studies conducted, in overwhelming cases belong to lower income groups.

There were two categories of acid attacks in the past. Rejection of marriage proposal or refusal by women of sexual advances was the main factor behind the crime. Fuelled by jealousy or revenge the man, and rarely a woman, took recourse to the attack. In other cases acid attacks were a form of gender-based domestic violence leading a husband suspecting the fidelity of his wife to deform her. Family disputes too led to the commission of the crime.

With successive governments doing nothing to arrest the spread of extremism in society, groups of religious zealots have started to launch acid attacks on women moving out of their homes without purdah. The campaign has started from Balochistan where four women were doused with acid on Monday for visiting a shopping centre in Quetta and two young girls in Mastung the next day for going out for Eid shopping. While in the past it was possible to sue the perpetrators of the crime because they acted openly, the extremists in these cases wore masks. An organised group is likely to be behind the incidents. There is a need to urgently bust the gang and award maximum punishment to the criminals. Unless this is done extremists in other provinces are likely to follow in their footsteps.