A recent press conference by author and activist Tehmina Durrani in Lahore highlighted through the case of one woman’s horrifying ordeal the ongoing criminal abuse of women in society by men with enough muscle to make a mockery of justice and an ass of the law.

            The story itself is so gripping that there is scarcely a need to sensationalise it further.  That in this time and age, a man can throw acid on a 22-year-old woman, disfiguring her for life and causing her untold psychological damage, and then go on to justify his action on the grounds that she is his wife and hence, his property, is nothing short of criminal.  Almost as outrageous, however, is the general response to the victim’s plight. Rather than horror and condemnation, her ordeal has engendered ugly, lurid speculation, and a kind of tacit acceptance of the rationale offered by the perpetrator for his crime – not unlike the classic defence in a rape case: the victim asked for it.

            To set the record straight, the bare facts as related by the victim, are as follows.  In 1998 Fakhra Yunas, a call girl and resident of Karachi’s infamous Napier Road, married former MPA Bilal Khar, former Punjab chief minister Mustafa Khar’s eldest son.  At the time she was, she says, unaware that Bilal had been married and divorced three times prior, and was, at the time of his marriage to her, also married to another woman, his fourth wife from whom he had two children.

            Fakhra hoped marriage would bring her respectability – a desire all the more fervent because of a previous disastrous liaison with a powerful feudal which had yielded a child.

            According to Fakhra, from the outset of her marriage to Bilal, she was sexually, physically and verbally abused by him.  In April 2000, she finally mustered the courage to leave him and return to her family in Karachi.  Five days later, Bilal walked into her house and threw acid/alkali on her in sight of her five-year-old son.

            In condition critical, Fakhra was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency medical intervention.  Her sisters filed an FIR against Bilal Khar at the Napier Road police station.  Fakhra survived and was subsequently allowed to go home, but since she was in no condition to resume business and clearly would never be in the future either, she became a liability for her family.  Thus when Bilal appeared at her door begging forgiveness, her family members readily handed her back to him.  For their part the police did not pursue the FIR against Bilal, reportedly on account of the latter’s cordial relationship with members of the force.  Thus, while Fakhra has been condemned to a life sentence because of her grievous injury, Bilal has been allowed to remain unfettered and unafraid.

            For the next five months, Bilal kept Fakhra under wraps.  Mustafa Khar had consistently refused to accept Fakhra as his daughter-in-law, and after the attack on her, he disowned Bilal as well.  Homeless, Bilal put her up in various cheap hotels, reverting to form almost immediately and subjecting her all the while to assorted kinds of sadistic abuse.  In April 2001, Bilal  called up Tehmina Durrani, his former stepmother, who had ironically given his mother, Safia, Mustafa Khar’s first wife, refuge in her home for eight years.  Bilal begged Tehmina to intervene on his behalf and convince his father to accept Fakhra.  Tehmina did as asked, as a result of which Mustafa agreed to confer with his brothers and decide what was to be done.  In turn, he requested Tehmina to keep Fakhra with her while he and Bilal travelled to his village, Kot Addu.

            With Fakhra safely installed in her house, Tehmina flew to Italy for business, and while there also made arrangements for reconstructive surgery for Fakhra at the Lodi Reconstruction Hospital in Milan.  As soon as Bilal heard of this development he forcibly took Fakhra away to Mustafa Khar’s farm near Shikarpur at Kala Khatai, effectively cutting of all contact between her and the outside world.

            Two weeks later, a servant from Kala Khatai arrived at Tehmina’s door-step with a desperate plea for help from Fakhra.  The message was conveyed to Tehmina, who was still in Italy.  She instructed her children to bring Fakhra back under the pretext that she needed to see a doctor in Lahore.  When Tehmina’s family heard of Fakhra’s ongoing trial by torture courtesy Bilal, they collectively decided they would not allow Bilal to take her back again.  Enraged, Bilal flew to Karachi, ostensibly with the intention of kidnapping Fakhra’s son who was living with her family as a means of leverage over Fakhra.  However, his attempt was foiled by Tehmina who preempted him by flying the child over to his mother in Lahore before Bilal could get to him.

            Ever since then Bilal has been threatening to throw acid on both, his father Mustafa, and Tehmina, as well as their children.  Tehmina meanwhile has been appealing to the interior minister, Moinuddin Haider, and other officials to expedite the issuance of a passport for Fakhra so that she can leave for Milan and  have herself treated.  Already, Fakhra’s first operation, scheduled for June 22 has had to be rescheduled.  The delay in this usually routine matter is not inexplicable, just outrageous: according to Tehmina, the interior minister is on record as having stated that if Fakhra were to arrive in Italy and relate her story, it would tarnish Pakistan’s image abroad.  Tehmina’s pleas to the authorities for better security for her family and for Fakhra, given Bilal’s repeated threats, also seem to be falling on deaf ears.

            In the meantime, Fakhra’s condition continues to deteriorate.  Due to the contractures that have developed, she can now barely breathe, and the sight in her left eye is becoming increasingly impaired.  Soon, doctors warn, it might be too late to even save Fakhra’s life, never mind her appearance.