Sindh CM takes notice, directs AIG to ensure the immediate arrest of suspect and submit report regarding the case
KARACHI:
A woman was allegedly attacked with acid by an unidentified motorcyclist in Clifton’s Upper Gizri area on Thursday, suffering burns to her face, hands and upper body, police said.
The injured woman works as a domestic helper and was on her way from one house where she worked to another when the incident occurred, according to her initial statement recorded by police.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) South Mahzor Ali said eyewitnesses told police that she and the suspect spoke for some time before an argument broke out, following which the man allegedly threw acid at her and fled.
Police said the suspect had allegedly brought the acid with him and was waiting for the woman to arrive.
Read: Acid attack worse than murder: SC
He said people at the scene alerted authorities, after which an ambulance arrived and took the injured woman to the Burns Ward of Civil Hospital for treatment.
SSP Ali said police were investigating the incident and had recorded the victim’s initial statement.
According to the officer, the woman was originally from Bahawalpur, Punjab, and had been living alone in Karachi after her husband contracted a second marriage back home.
“Police showed her a photograph of the suspect, but she declined to identify him as the assailant,” SSP Ali said, adding that she said she does not know the attacker but would be able to identify him if he appeared before her.
He underscored that cops are gathering information about the woman from her relatives living in Karachi as part of the investigation.
“Further investigation is under way to determine the identity and motive of the attacker,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took strict notice of the acid attack and expressed deep sorrow over the incident.
“The incident is extremely tragic and barbaric. Such an act is intolerable and unforgivable,” he said in a statement issued by his office, adding that the victim should be provided with comprehensive and the best possible medical facilities.
The chief minister also directed the Karachi Additional Inspector General (AIG) to ensure the immediate arrest of the suspect and submit a report to him regarding the case.
Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar also condemned the attack, seeking an immediate and detailed report on the incident from the SSP South and vowed adherence to a “zero tolerance policy” in such cases.
The minister asked the SSP South to supervise the probe and inform him about the progress.
Several acid attacks were reported across Pakistan this year. In July, a woman accused her husband, sister-in-law and nephew-in-law of throwing acid at her during a domestic dispute in Dera Ghazi Khan. Police arrested two suspects in connection with the case.
Before that, in late June, a case was registered against a man in Faisalabad after he attacked his wife, sister-in-law and niece-in-law with acid.
In early June, police registered another case of an acid attack that took place inside Civil Hospital in Quetta, where a female doctor was attacked, and her attacker was killed in a police encounter. The attack drew widespread condemnation, which ultimately led the Balochistan Assembly to unanimously adopt two resolutions on September 1 that called for a review and strengthening of laws related to acid attacks.
In yet another case of acid brutality, a 31-year-old woman, a resident of Dijkot, suffered acid burns after her husband allegedly attacked her during an altercation. Police apprehended the suspect on April 25.
Earlier on April 3, a schoolgirl was injured in an acid attack in the Chung area of Lahore after the ninth grader rejected a marriage proposal. Police said one of the two suspects involved in the attack was killed in an encounter while another escaped.
In March, a 30-year-old man was subjected to an acid attack by his lover after he married someone else in Lahore’s Kahna area.
At the beginning of this year, in January, police apprehended five suspects after a teenage girl was gang-raped, tortured and later subjected to an acid attack in Khanewal.
The number of cases is way higher than those that are covered by the media; according to NGO data, Pakistan records an average of 150 to 200 acid attacks annually. Despite successive legal reforms and increasingly stringent provincial laws, acid attacks remain a grave threat to women in Pakistan, with wide disparities in reported cases pointing to a troubling gap in documentation and enforcement.
Read more: Balochistan PA backs tougher acid attack law
In a landmark ruling passed on June 9, the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan upheld the life imprisonment sentence of an acid attack convict and rejected his plea for leniency based on juvenility, declaring such attacks “worse than murder”. It also directed all high courts to ensure that trials in acid attack cases were completed within four months in accordance with the law and further instructed them to personally monitor such cases to avoid delays that may cause additional mental trauma to victims.
