The practice of pouring acid on the faces of women who offend or embarrass you continues in Pakistan. This week, the actress Bushra Waiz, 18, was awakened in her bedroom in Nowsherra, 90 miles from the capital of Islamabad, by the searing pain of the right side of her face being burnt away.
Allegations have been made against a local television producer, alleging he was upset at Waiz for rejecting his marriage proposal. Police believe this man has fled to his hometown in the west of the country. Waiz remained in critical condition in a hospital.
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident. Waiz is not alone in her suffering.
Industrial-strength acid is commonly found across Pakistan, due to its use in cotton processing as well as an inexpensive (but dangerous) cleaning fluid for rusty tools. In 2012 alone, approximately 150 attacks against women involving acid were reported. Given the traditional reluctance of women in rural communities to go to police in these circumstances, the overall numbers are no doubt much higher. Often these attacks are part of ongoing family feuds, but others can result from minor insults or breaches of the strict protocols imposed on women in traditional Pakistani communities.
Last November, Anosh Zafar, 16, was killed by her parents, using acid. Her father had seen her standing too close to a boy and speaking to him in too familiar a way. When Zafar's father confronted her with the allegation that she was romantically involved with the boy, he became angry and had her mother fetch a bottle of acid in order to pour it on Zafar. After suffering burns across over half of her body, Zafar died the next day. Her parents were arrested after they refused to show the girl's face at the funeral, arousing suspicions among their neighbors.
Recently, efforts have been made to draw international attention to these attacks, and the impact they have on their victims.
For example, the Pakistani film, "Saving Face," which won an Oscar in 2012 for Best Documentary, focused on what happened to Rukhsana Mukhtar after her husband attacked her with acid in 2009. Publicity, however, does sometimes come with a price. Shortly after the film was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Mukhtar was forced to flee her village due to the negative attention she received as a result of the film's success.
When acid is not available, angry and offended men in Pakistan have other tools at their disposal. Pakistani women are also frequently set on fire. Where the complaint is relatively minor, she might only have her nose cut off. On occasion, as in the case of Zafar, other women in the family are actually involved in these horrific crimes as well.
These attacks reveal the serious problems that many Pakistani men are having in adapting to modern life their traditional attitudes towards women. The focus of many of these attacks are young girls, who seek to empower themselves by making their own decisions. This exercise of individuality and independence insults the perpetrator and fills him with a desire to disfigure the woman who has embarrassed him.
Until recently, even where the local police caught and charged an acid thrower, Pakistani law allowed the perpetrator to pay compensation to the victim's family and escape prosecution.
It would be overly simplistic, however, to focus only on Pakistan or attempt to draw some forced conclusions about what is or is not permitted by Islam. So-called "honor killings" are common in rural areas across the region and occur frequently in nearby non-Muslim India. When an Indian woman, disfigured by acid, won the local version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," the publicity she generated shone a bright light on the horrible fate of these victims. Sonali Mukherjee was attacked when she was 17 for rejecting the sexual advances of three neighbors. She is using her $40,000 to pay for further reconstructive surgery.
Wherever these attacks occur with frustrating regularity, governments must be held responsible both for failing to enforce the laws on the books and for creating an atmosphere akin to tacit acceptance of this violence.
As Waiz suffers the consequences of her attack for years to come, authorities at both the national and local level across Pakistan must step up and make the necessary changes in policing and sentencing, as well as in general perceptions of the value and legitimacy of female aspirations, in order to ensure that girls and women in their country are adequately protected.
Orange County writer and attorney Timothy Spangler hosts "The Bigger Picture with Timothy Spangler," Sundays, 10 p.m.-midnight on KRLA 870/AM.