Woman attacked with acid in Pakistani Punjab

A woman in Pakistan's Punjab province suffered severe burns when her husband attacked her with acid, the latest in a string of such assaults.

Bushra, a resident of Okara district, 100 km from provincial capital Lahore, was attacked by her husband Muhammad Basharat, who suspected she was in a relationship with another man in the neighbourhood, police said.

Basharat threw acid on her face and chest yesterday when she was asleep at home, police said. She married Basharat a few years ago.

Bushra was rushed to a hospital in Okara, where doctors advised her relatives to shift her to a hospital in Lahore.
 

Officials described her condition as serious, saying she had severe burns on her face and body.

A case was registered against Basharat after Bushra's father filed a complaint but no arrest has been made so far.

Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court in Bahawalpur gave life imprisonment on two counts to a man convicted of an acid attack. Ayyaz Ahmed of Rahim Yar Khan district was directed by Judge Nisar Ahmed to also pay a fine of Rs 2 million.

Ahmed had inflicted serious injuries on Muhammad Mahram in an acid attack in August last year. According to the prosecution, Ayyaz suspected Mahram was having an affair with a woman from his family.

Mahram lost his eyesight and suffered severe burns on his body.

Acid attacks on both men and women have continued despite the passage of a law that provides stringent punishment to perpetrators of such assaults.