Crimes against Muslims in the West have been on an all-time rise
ISLAMABAD: Crimes against Muslims in the West have been on an all-time rise. The latest incident comes from London. Twenty-one-year-old Resham Khan was in the car with her 37-year-old cousin, Jameel Mukhtar, when an unknown assailant threw acid on them before running away.
Although the crime hasn’t been marked off as a hate crime as investigations are still underway, it definitely raises fear and concern amongst the Muslim youth in the West. The incident also marks the rise of acid attacks in the city, a crime that had previously thought to only occur in the subcontinent with Bangladesh topping the list of acid-related crimes — there has been around 3,000 acid attack victims reported since 1999. Khan’s case in East London is the second in six months, adding to the over 1,800 reported acid attacks in London since 2010.
In the wake of this tragedy, Londoners are signing an online petition requesting the UK Parliament to prohibit the purchase of acid to those without a licence. If this petition is accepted by the parliament — with 2,251 supporters already having signed it — Pakistan can, perhaps, learn a thing or two from the masses in London.
Despite the rise of using corrosive liquids to disfigure people for life in the country, no law has yet been formulated that restricts the easy access of acid at local shops. Currently, the legal framework is only geared towards putting the assailant behind bars — which is not to say isn’t helpful — instead of focusing towards its prevention altogether. Back in 2012 with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s short documentary titled Saving Face winning an Oscar, there was a countrywide outrage condemning the crime. However, just as all other social movements in Pakistan, this too soon died off as the masses carried on with their work.
Whether Londoners will be able to do what Pakistanis haven’t, only time can tell but Khan’s incident highlights the extent of human-induced brutalities in the world, irrespective of where the perpetrator resides.
Akbar Butt
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2017.
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