Pakistan - 'Acid Attacks' - The worst kind of crime

There seems to be no shortage of examples to prove just how miserable life is for the fairer sex in Pakistan. The latest compilation of data on the grotesque crime of acid attacks shows that there has been a significant increase in this heinous act in the first nine months of 2014 compared to the whole of 2013. There have been as many as 42 reported incidents of acid crime in Punjab alone this year, according to reports compiled by NGOs working to eradicate this plague from our society. Whilst this number may not seem like much in relation to all the other brutalities we see in our terrorism-scourged society, acid crime is particularly savage, aiming to disadvantage and stigmatise the victim for life, a kind of living death. These attacks are mainly committed by embittered male members of a woman’s family or jealous suitors/lovers. Family members may throw acid on a woman to defend their honour and suitors may do so out of rage on being spurned by the woman they attack. The corrosive acid leaves the woman permanently disfigured, so much so that in severe cases, they cannot eat, drink or blink normally ever again. They are blinded and left mute with their voice box burnt out. One can understand then how this can be a fate worse than death.

There exist laws in our country against this crime but there has hardly ever been an effort to implement these laws. Acid crime is recognised as a criminal offence with perpetrators getting as much as 14 years to life behind bars and a fine of one million rupees. However, while we hear of such attacks happening against some of the unfortunate women of this country, we have never actually heard of anyone being caught and charged with this barbaric act. What is the point of recognising a crime when one is not willing to punish it? Is the value of being a woman in this society so little that any form of ruthlessness will be tolerated? Corrosive substances are easily available in the markets with no checks in place on who purchases them and in what quantity. This must be clamped down on.

Instances of honour killings are also reaching astounding highs in this country with as many as 1,000 reported cases and many more being undocumented. Couple those statistics with the fact that acid crime is also on the upswing and it seems we are regressing into a primitive tribal society that considers women to be little better than cattle to be dispensed with at will.