Tehmina Durrani has written a letter to the Italian Ambassador in Pakistan thanking him about the support the Italian government gave to a Pakistani acid attack victim, Fakhra Younas, for so many years in Italy until her death recently. “In a time where even the smallest gesture of human compassion is rare, how can we forget the enormous love and care your country lavished upon Fakhra Yunas? By providing safe sanctuary to her, you made us all feel secure. For this, you have my heartfelt and eternal thanks,” she wrote in a long letter which, in addition to thanking the Italian government also lamented the apathy of the Pakistani government and officials in ignoring her for so long. “As victims of a state steeped in corruption, their [citizens of Pakistan’s] only school of learning has been the callous and arrogant examples set by the consecutive governments of Pakistan. It is no wonder that their capacity for compassion and empathy has diminished…When I placed photographs of her [Fakhra] before the former military government’s Minister of Interior…shockingly, despite the clear evidence of the gruesome attacks, the minister remained unmoved by Fakhra’s plight,” she adds. She also criticized the disregard shown by Pakistan’s mission in Italy when Fakhra constantly sought their help and assistance while the ambassador did not even see her. She lauded the Italian government further saying, “Whereas Fakhra Yunus died in the eyes of Pakistan, she was re-born in Italy, where she underwent thirty-nine major surgeries; her hospitalisation and medication were made possible only because of the priority the Italian government placed on the ‘Oneness’ of humanity.”
