Burning concerns: Six acid assault reported in one day

Hajra Bibi and a family of five were all set ablaze while they were still asleep.

LAYYAH:

A total of six acid burning cases were reported in the district on Monday.

The first incident took place in Bait-o-Sawa, Nowan Kho, where 40-year-old Hajra Bibi was burnt in her sleep by unknown assailants. According to Hajra’s mother-in-law, she rushed into the room to put out the fire but also received burns as she tried to save her daughter-in-law. “She was lying in bed when they sprinkled the petrol and set fire. It took her a few minutes to even register what was happening and by then the flames had covered her entire body,” Hajra’s mother-in-law Ismat Shahid said. “I tried fighting off the bandits at the door but they overpowered me. They ran away while I was trying to put the fire out,” she told Layyah police.

Hajra was taken to Nishtar Hospital on Monday morning but she died on the way. Her husband Altaf told Kot Sultan police officials that she had been receiving threatening phone calls. “I had recently gotten into a quarrel with several men in the district because they were teasing my wife. The next day she began receiving phone calls threatening her life,” Altaf told police. Kot Sultan Police have registered a case and are searching for the accused.

In Muzaffargarh, two men set fire to a family of five after their sister married against their wishes. On Monday morning, brothers’ Khizer Hayat and Muhammad Safdar set fire to their sister Shaheena and her husband Moin. According to Shaheena’s neighbours, Marra Ghurbi resident Basheer and Sadeeqa Bibi the couple had gotten married seven years ago against Shaheena’s family’s wishes. “At the time her brothers threatened her but eventually they left them alone. They moved here six years ago but Shaheena had a son two days ago and she sent sweets to her father and brothers hoping that she could mend the relationship,” Sadeeqa Bibi told police.

According to Basheer, on Monday morning, Khizer and Safdar broke into Shaheena’s house and sprinkled acid on the sleeping couple and their three children. “They didn’t even spare the baby. He was only two days old and the other children were five and six year’s old,” Sadeeqa Bibi told police.

The family were taken to the DHQ Hospital but Moin, his infant son Hashim and his daughter Ifrah died on the way. “Shaheena and her daughter Amina are in critical condition and we doubt either will be able to survive because they have sustained over 80 per cent burns to their bodies. They are also both blind,” said DHQ attending Dr Babar Qayyum.

Rohaila Nowali Police SHO Muqaddas Shah said that he had registered a case against the two brothers and their accomplice Shahzad. “We are searching for the accused and we will find them soon,” he said. Police officials have sealed off the house and are investigating.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2011.