Warning : GRAPHICAL
Warning : extreme graphical material
If you don't like to see mutulated faces. Don't click the links.
This is a picture I found on a German web site. It will never be printed in MSM her plight is shared with thousands of others around the world. The picture caught my attention because it reminded me of one of those mummies one sees that are dug up somewhere on the steppes. In fact I thought it was a mummy until I read the German text. This lady is called Saeeda Bukhsh she is 30 and is lying in a burns unit in Mutan in the Punjab in Pakistan. She is the mother of three children, children she will most likely never be able to see again because she is most likely blind. Her crime by the way was to refuse the sexual advances of a local villager. His sensitive ego could not take such a shock. He has obviously not undergone sensitivity training. He poured acid over her, she was burnt over 35% of her body. I suspect that she was very beautiful once, she certainly has a nice bone structure. It is immaterial now, nobody will want her, she is scared for life and will most likely end up begging for a living on the streets. The man is running around free. Look very carefully again at this picture because there is a strong possibility that it could be coming to a town near you.
http://bp1.blogger.com/_DZuE1dDOrzU/RsNKJwsRVxI/AAAAAAAAABk/56-NisCJ6Vg/s1600-h/Woman-disfiguerd-by-acid.jpghttp://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2005/06/pain-is-etched-in-her-face.htmlhttp://chromatism.net/current/images/acidvictims.jpghttp://www.ansarburney.org/images/womens_rights-violence_page_pic1.jpghttp://www.ansarburney.org/images/womens_rights-violence_page_pic2.jpghttp://media.npr.org/programs/day/features/2007/aug/acid/haseena_lg.jpghttp://media.npr.org/programs/day/features/2007/aug/acid/jayalakshmi_lg.jpgHaseena Hussain was an attractive, upwardly mobile woman in Bangalore, India, with everything going for her. But it all changed in 1999, when she turned down her former boss' marriage proposal and he sought revenge by pouring two liters of concentrated hydrochloric acid over her body.
Hussain now works with the Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attacks on Women (CSAAAW) to fight the surge of acid violence against women. Since 1999, the group has documented 61 such attacks. In the most recent case, a 22-year-old mother of four children was doused with acid and forced to drink a deadly concoction of a corrosive chemical and alcohol by her abusive husband in the city of Mysore.
CSAAAW has had some success in persuading the courts and police to take acid attacks more seriously. In a recent ruling, the sentence of Hussain's attacker was increased from five years to 14. But even that measure of justice rings hollow to Hussain, who had burns over most of her body and lost her nose and eyesight.
In that ruling, the judge also demanded that the government set up a fund of about $250,000 to cover the costs of reconstructive surgery that many of these women need. Survivors of the attacks say that the fund is only enough to care for two women — far short of the needs of the more than 60 survivors.
Even with excellent medical care, the best that most of these women can hope for is survival. If not treated immediately, they can lose their eyesight and spiral into depression. Many commit suicide.
Acid violence seems to be almost unique to South Asia, with most incidents occurring in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Part of the reason is that acid is cheap and widely available. Many Indians use concentrated acid to sterilize their kitchens and bathrooms, as Americans would use bleach.
But the problem affects more than just the women represented by the campaign. A number of politicians, including the wife of the former prime minister of India, have had acid thrown at them. It is also commonplace in mob violence. Popular televised serials and films reinforce the idea by repeatedly portraying acid attacks.
Perhaps the most dangerous thing about acid attacks is the fear that they create. With just a few rupees, anyone can buy a weapon that can ruin another person's life in just a few seconds. For this reason, activists from CSAAAW will raise their voices until the government does something to regulate acid.
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/02/14/pt_15ACID_ent-lead__200x254.jpgNo justice for Pakistan's acid victims
By Warrick Page
Age Correspondent
Lahore
February 15, 2005
Page Tools
Sulphuric acid attack victim Ishrat Abdullah in hospital.
Photo: Warrick Page
The stench of melted flesh fills Lahore's Mayo Hospital burns ward.
New arrival Ishrat Abdullah, 26, lies in unspeakable pain after her husband threw sulphuric acid over the mother-of-four during one of his routine fits of violence.
"I ask G-d for forgiveness. This is all my fault," Mrs Abdullah whispers, barely able to push the words past her scarred lips.
Burns cover more than 30 per cent of her body, leaving her face, chest and arms a blend of pink, brown and black scarring.
The number of acid attacks on woman in Pakistan has increased, with nearly 400 annually, according to the Pakistan Human Rights Commission's latest report.
Mrs Abdullah's family is unable to afford fresh bandages and painkillers, and her clothes have begun to stick to her burnt flesh. Her mother-in-law stands close by and berates her for "causing such a fuss" and failing to provide a son.
"My husband's family mock me and make fun of me," Mrs Abdullah said. "His parents used to put a lot of pressure on him (to find work and produce a son) and he would take it out on me."
Attacks are most common in rural areas, often the result of infertility, rejected marriage proposals, suspicion of illicit relations or in-law problems.
Police were the biggest obstacle victims faced when seeking justice, Farhat Rehman, of Lahore's Legal Aid Centre, said. "Since I started working with acid burn cases in 2002, the police would always deny that it ever happened," Dr Rehman said.
"Police discourage the victim's family from seeking justice by saying legal expenses are too high and they won't get justice anyway, so they should just let it be." And often the suspect's families were influential and had police protection.
Fighting back tears, Mrs Abdullah's father, Haji Muneer Bhatti, is aware that justice for his only daughter is unlikely.
"Justice is impossible, but we're going to try anyway," he said.
"Corruption will prevent my daughter from getting justice. You can buy a judge and you can buy the police."
The legal centre has been working to encourage greater government involvement in seeking prosecutions and federal law reforms.
But bids to treat acid attacks as attempted murder and placing restrictions on sulphuric acid sales have proved fruitless.
This is horrible!!!
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d37/TDCL/ACID.jpghttp://www.womensenews.org/images/ci/Bushra-Hali-1908.jpg'Sharp Water' in Urdu....
Many Cases Unreported...
http://www.ansarburney.org/images/womens_rights-violence_page_pic1.jpghttp://www.ansarburney.org/images/womens_rights-violence_page_pic2.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_attackAcid attacks are a violent phenomenon that primarily occur in parts of certain South Asian countries and are often perpetrated by males against females; but there are also an increasing number of females perpatrating their actions on males. Perpetrators of these attacks throw acid at their victims, burning them. The consequences are multiple: permanent marks on the body, disfiguration and potentially blindness.
The chemical agent used to commit these attacks is either hydrochloric acid, widely available in South Asian countries as a toilet cleaner or sulphuric acid from batteries. Because the chemical causes severe disfigurement, not death, this easily accessible chemical has become the popular weapon for attacks against women who refuse sexual advances and offers of marriage made by men. In Bangladesh where acid attacks are relatively common, most attacks are domestic violence. [1]
Contents [hide]
1 Treatment
2 Victims
3 Acid attacks around the world
4 Related social problems
5 Other uses of the term
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
[edit]Treatment
Victims of acid attacks are usually told to douse their faces thoroughly with clean water, and apply basic substances, such as urine, when possible. Long-term plastic surgery may help the victim recover.
Psychologically, some women remind themselves that "beauty is only skin-deep," meaning that it is their personality that should be the most important. [2]
[edit]Victims
Although acid attacks mainly target women, there has been a case in which a man was deliberately attacked by a woman, another where a man was attacked by a male and several other situations where men were inadvertently harmed due to their proximity.
In the first case, a man who divorced his wife was targeted by her with acid on two occasions [2], permanently losing sight in one eye in the first assault. She was arrested after chasing him in the streets, when police discovered that she was carrying acid, intending to attack again. In the second incident, a Muslim cleric in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, was accused of attacking a male student with acid because the student refused his sexual advances. [3] Female attacks on males are comparatively uncommon.
[edit]Acid attacks around the world
Such attacks are not unknown in various parts of the world.
Australia - A Chinese-Australian named Dominic Li was murdered by gangsters, by having acid poured down his throat; [4]
Bangladesh - Possibly has the highest rate of acid attacks of any country; [5]
Cambodia - Acid attacks are frequently inflicted upon mistresses; [6]
China - Acid attacks have been reported within the country; [7]
Colombia - Four people were attacked with sulphuric acid in 2007. The motives were revenge and theft.[8]
El Salvador - A woman had acid poured in her face before being raped and murdered. [9]
Ethiopia - A particularly gruesome attack was committed in the context of the Eritrean-Ethiopian War; [10]
Italy - Michael Musmanno discusses attending a trial for a similar crime during the inter-war period;
Southern Thailand - Six Thai youths were assaulted with acid in Pattani, allegedly by Malay Muslim rebels. [11]
United States - A student attending college had acid thrown in her face while at school by two men, in Oakland California.[12]
[edit]Related social problems
Acid attacks are differentiated from dowry harassments, where women are harassed for increasing dowries after marriage, and punished (often with death) for failure to obtain the requested amounts of money or goods. The method of killing these brides is typically by fire, due to the notorious instability of oil cookstoves that are then blamed for the attacks. Although these deaths are often deemed accidental, the incidence of dowry burnings has only recently subsided, due in large part to the penal and preventative legislation introduced by the Indian Union. Unlike acid attacks, these dowry-related assaults and murders are orchestrated most often by the mother-in-law, and represent a spin on the traditional view of misogyny as male-perpetuated.
[edit]