In need of treatment: Acid-attack victim yet to receive compensation

Teenage Pashto star Shazia Aziz was allegedly attacked by her producer over marriage refusal.

MINGORA: Despite having suffered, and thankfully survived, one of the most brutal and ghastly forms of violence against women, the government is yet to fulfil its promise of providing financial assistance to acid-victim Bushra Waiz after seven months.

Waiz, also known as Shazia Aziz in the local television world, is a Pashto theatre artist, singer and actor hailing from Pabbi, Nowshera.  At 16, she entered the world of showbiz to pursue her dream of becoming a TV star but those aspirations were scorched when she was attacked with acid by an unidentified person as she slept in her house on June 21, 2013. She was 18-years-old at the time. Her family believed she was attacked by one of her producers, Shaukat Khan, for refusing to marry him and asking for the payment of her dues.

“When I asked Khan to pay me for my work in a telefilm, he did not like it and threw acid on my face the same night after sneaking into our house,” Waiz alleged. “I was taken to different hospitals but was refused admission. The administration of Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar took me in and I underwent treatment there for three months.”

Her family members had lodged a case against Khan at the time but the suspect is yet to be apprehended by the police.

The former TV star is now living a life of extreme misery and poverty with her mother in Swat, waiting for a miracle to help her undergo much-needed plastic surgery.

Waiz’s mother, Shamim, said it was extremely hard to tend to her daughter’s needs as she is a widow. “All my life I worked in the homes of rich people to make enough money to raise my daughter,” she said. “Finally, when she was making her mark that cruel man defaced her, inflicting a lifelong scar on my daughter and making things difficult for us financially.”

She added her daughter’s treatment is possible but she does not have the money for it.

“We don’t even have money for food, how can we arrange millions for a plastic surgery,” she told The Express Tribune.

She said health minister Shaukat Yousafzai had announced Rs0.5 million as compensation soon after the incident, however, seven months had gone by and there was no word on the promised assistance.

Waiz appealed to governmental and private organisations to help her with treatment so she could remove the scars, albeit superficially, and begin living a normal life. She said the incident has forced her into a life of helplessness as her friends and fans have forgotten her.

“Those who always remained by my side and claimed to be my friends have completely forgotten me,” she said. “Never mind their lack of sympathy, they don’t even recognise me when I call them for help. They turn their faces away whenever I have tried to reach them.”

According to local drama and theatre artistes, female singers and actors are always receiving threats for their work. They also complained that the government and the public did not treat them with respect.

“I am really disappointed with the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for looking down upon and disrespecting us,” said Haji Majboor Esa Khel, a former drama artiste and producer in Swat. “They like to watch dramas and telefilms but hate those who work in them. We provide them with entertainment but they treat us worse than animals.”

Though strict punishment exists on paper for perpetrators of acid crimes, their implementation on the ground is yet to pick up. Dozens of acid attack cases, mostly against women, are reported every year and many go unreported.

Humaira Shaukat, a lawyer in Swat, told The Express Tribune that a person convicted of an acid attack can face 14-years to life in prison with fines up to Rs1 million under the Criminal Law Amendment Act in 2011.

The health minister was not available for comments despite numerous attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2014.