Monday, August 18, 2008

Saria Liaqat & Urooj Akbar - Living Well

It is said, that the best form of victory over oppression or violence, is for the victim to end up living well... I can only hope that the following article will be instrumental in proving that to be true... after years of recovering from the horrific acid and kerosene fire that their husbands inflicted on them, these women are actively working in the field of Salon Beauticians, in Pakistan, all because the owner of Depilex, Masarrat Misbah, met a woman who suffered an acid attack, who asked for help and didn't turn away, as many others would and have...
the past few days, Namal Toosi's article for the Associated Press, has
been picked up by dozens if not scores of newspapers around the globe and has rendered Depilex's website for it's humanitarian effort on behalf of the 240+ registered burn sufferers off line, because of the visits it is getting... that in itself shows the interest and the outrage this form of abuse has engendered...

it was said by a member of a government body in the Indian Subcontinent, that laws made by governments in support of women's rights and against honour attacks and killings, will not make the difference they are meant to, without a change in the society as a whole... implying that the laws were useless and a waste of the government's time... THAT has to be the biggest cope out line going... without laws to begin with, society cannot begin to govern itself... and with the publicizing of these abuses, there will be a growing force to reckon with in change for the better... certainly we must keep the feet to the fire, of members of government that think like that... making them complicit by omission, in the killings and maiming of women and girls...
The Pictures on this page, except the one of Saria Liaqat at age 15, were taken by AP-Press photographer, K.M. Chaudary...
It should also be noted, as it is in the articles, that these women are some of the least damaged by their attackers... many more are in severe states of pain and disfigurement... their were in 2007, 33 attacks of this sort in Pakistan alone... and these are the brave ones that reported to the police... others are either too afraid of their attackers or their own families, or haven't the money to afford lawyers... many are an embarrassment to their families honour...
www.depilexsmileagain.com/

http://www.smileagain.it (Italian only; English version under construction)