ISLAMABAD: A woman who killed her teenage daughter by pouring acid on her face and body after they caught her talking to a boy has told the BBC it was the girl’s destiny to die in this way.

Police in Pakistani-administered Kashmir arrested Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen for the Oct 29 attack on their daughter Anusha, 16, who died in hospital two days later after suffering horrific acid burns.

The parents of the 16-year-old confessed to police in Kotli, a town in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, that they attacked their daughter after she had spoke to the boy outside their house, said Mohammad Jahangir, a local doctor at the hospital where she was brought.

“There were third-degree burns on her scalp, face, eyes, nostrils, both arms, chest, foot and lower part of legs. Even her scalp bone was exposed,” he said, adding that the mother initially told the hospital their daughter tried to commit suicide.

So-called “honour” attacks are common in deeply conservative Pakistan.

Rights activists say more than 900 women were murdered last year after being accused of bringing shame on the family in some way.

Speaking from their police cells, the father told the BBC they had warned Anusha before about looking at boys, while the mother described how her daughter had begged for forgiveness.

“She said, ‘I didn’t do it on purpose, I won’t do it again,” the mother, whose own arm bore an injury from the acid, told the BBC.

“By then I had thrown the acid. It was her destiny to die this way.”The parents waited two days to take Anusha to hospital. A doctor told AFP the teenager arrived in a “very critical condition” with almost 70 percent burns.

Almost 1,000 women lost their lives last year in so-called “honour killings” in the conservative South Asian nation, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Activists say the actual number is much higher as most cases go unreported.

                                                       Guard male and not female

Time and again I have read in different newspapers that here or there today or yesterday she is punished in the name of honor killing and I am really fed up to read it anymore and instead will establish that we must guard our boys and men instead if at all we are prudent to be honest. Here the man came to the house of Anusha to talk to her but very much surprisingly her parents did not go after him since he was more involved because he came to her and not that she went to him to talk but regretfully they killed their daughter and ignored the man who was more guilty than Anusha but the poor girl only had to face the music.

I am referring to the news flashed yesterday (Mon 5^th Nov 2012) in Dawn newspaper under the caption, ‘Woman who attacked daughter with acid says it was her fate’ and I will have to be bit blunt, blatant and sharp while commenting on the news and giving my views. The news says that a 16 years old girl named Anusha was caught by her mother talking to some male at her house door which infuriated the mother to the extent that she even thought to take away her life once for all which is totally unacceptable and barbaric act I will say publicly and loudly. The details are that 29^th October was the most worst day for Anusha when her mother fully assisted by her husband poured acid right from face to bottom on her whole body whereby she got 3^rd degree burns and as the bad luck had it she was not taken to any hospital and instead kept inside their house for two days.  The acid was strong that the her skull bones which are believed to be very strong and tightly stitched together gave way so quite naturally it was next to impossible to save her life and that too when she was brought to hospital after two days gap in between. Parents have given their statements wherein they said that it was not the 1^st time fir Anusha to talk to opposite sex rather in the past too she had been found alike and she was warned to stop it. The mother went to the extent saying that she had warned Ajusha not to even see towards a male whereas she was even talking to a man what to talk of looking at a man.

Anusha has eventually paid back heaviest possible price for not listening to her parents and instead of living for many long years like many others, she had been killed by her parents while she was still a blooming teenager and now she lives in her permanent abode in any case. Her parents have been arrested by the local police and the couple has been put behind the bars and eventually court will award them suitable punishment, if nit acquitted, after many long years in any case but this is not the end of it. For some people it may be the end of the story because the girl who was proved to be indulged in immoral activities have been killed and the parents who committed the heinous crime have been arrested so there is nothing left for them to discuss but it is no so rather to me it is the turning point which I simply cannot over look any more.

Just think physical features of a male and a female and I am sure you that at the end of the day you will be with me and not against me. Who will stand up against me and how and why when I say with full conviction, confidence and authority that from time immemorial a male is more pruned to immoral and activities than a female and it has been proved as well? Male is a double-edged sword to be honest and none on the face of earth can deny this hard fact whereas the poor female is just one sided knife only and can act one way and not both ways like a male. Male had been both active and passive in the past, even now he is doing alike and there is a strong possibility that he will be a dual personality in future too but on the contra female is just passive and passive alone. Time and again it is read both in east and west that a male has been found with a male indulging in some activities and I cannot elucidate it anymore and as it very rightly said that many a times something is to be understood and not discussed.

Summing up, I will submit very politely that our society must rise to the hard realities of life and must straighten up our approach and should not just pounce on females and females only without caring at all the males who have been found to be more immoral than female. Litmus test-if you can guard male then female are automatically guarded so what is better and whom to guard. Who votes for me and who votes against me??

Iqbal Hadi Zaidi / Kuwait