Acid Survivors Foundation Pakistan would like to take this opportunity to express its deepest gratitude to Senator Richard Yung for requesting a subvention to the French Senate that led to the delivery of this ambulance to ASF-Pakistan to facilitate survivors’ transportation on time and hence, save lives.
| Program | Time |
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Welcoming Note By the Host |
—5pm—————— |
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Prayer |
——-5.05 pm————– |
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Call Valerie Khan Yusufzai for Profile Presentation of ASF |
—–5.15 pm————— |
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French Ambassador and survivors 1 : Ambassador’s Speech 2 : Handover the key to one of the survivor 3 : Survivors thank you Notes |
—-5.30pm—————- |
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Dr Hamid Hassan to give a PowerPoint Presentation |
—5.40 pm————— |
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Speeches : Dr Charles Viva UK representative |
—–5.50 pm———— |
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M. Khan announces the Awards and distributes the certificates |
——6 pm————- |
Adnan Khan
While Saving Face, a documentary on doctors helping Pakistan’s acid attack victims, recently won an Oscar, Adnan Khan discovers a much better story, featuring legitimate heroes who, unlauded, work every day to enable the afflicted to return to society with confidence
It’s odd how the faint sound of sobbing rising up from the crumpled blanket seems to dominate the room. Considering the laughter that is otherwise the mainstay of the women living at the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), the tears feel out of place. Rukhsana, knitting a blanket for her newborn son; Nusrat Parveen, busy on the sewing machine; Mumtaz and her 7-year old son, Mozam, giggling over a game they have just invented – these should set the tone in their communal living space.
But it’s Naziran Bibi’s tears that overwhelm all else. “Please, sister,” Nusrat says to her suffering friend. “It will get better. You must be patient.”
The women at ASF are accustomed to this sort of thing. They’ve all been through it themselves: the shock of having their faces melted by acid, the hopelessness that comes from having to then face themselves in the mirror. It is often too much to bear. Naziran is, in this sense, perhaps luckier than some – her attacker managed to blind her completely. But it’s also in that darkness where she now finds herself that her loneliness is absolute.
This is perhaps the most difficult struggle victims of acid attacks face. In a single, cruel stroke, they are transformed into outcasts, their lives relegated to the margins, condemned to a perpetually cloistered existence, shunned by the people around them. It was this same loneliness that ultimately drove Fakhra Younus, a Pakistani acid attack survivor in Italy, to take her own life on March 17.
Her neighbour, Haji Ali Din, reportedly told the Italian media that he had seen Younus an hour before she jumped from her sixth-storey apartment. She was crying, he said, but he dismissed it as a “daily occurrence”.
The pain behind those tears cannot be trivialised simply because of their regularity. Quite the opposite, in fact: that Younus still cried every day after more than a decade (her attack happened in 2000) is a testament to the depth of her suffering. It was the kind of pain that required solace, and the kind of solace that only the company of those who understood her plight could bring.
In Pakistan, there is no shortage of women who are suffering the way Younus did. Their struggles were broadcast to millions around the world after the short documentary Saving Face was awarded an Oscar on February 26. The co-directors of that film, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge, along with the film’s main character, Dr Mohammad Jawad, became instant media darlings, credited with lifting the veil from one of Pakistan’s most gruesome realities.
But Younus’s death did something else that hasn’t been reported in the world’s media: it drove home the point that acid survivors require more than medical treatment to ensure their well-being; modern medicine can do only so much to make them whole again. More importantly, it’s the psychological damage they have experienced that will be their true lifelong burden.
In the years since Younus’s attack, much has changed in Pakistan to help ease the pain of acid survivors. Saving Face was a timely story insofar as it highlighted some of the work being done to help these women. It was also a heavily dramatised and misleading story, however, relying on old and tired clichés to draw in a western audience.
To read the rest of the article, click the following link…
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/film/the-real-miracle-workers-fighting-and-healing-pakistans-acid-attacks
In December 2009, ASF-Pak had to face a difficult year: funding was scarce and the NCRU was about to be closed…
ASF senior amgement was even thinking about opening one room in their house to shelter Naziraan at that time…
But Valerie Khan Yusufzai just had to go and meet BLACK BOX Sound team, one of ASF media partners and say : “I need help”. Black Box Sound produced a video for free “Message in a bottle”. and hence sufficient funds were raised through a lawyer, a doctor and the only Nursing Care and Rehabilitation Unit for acid survivors in Pakistan was saved and sustained!
Thank you Black Box Sound, agents of change!
ASF Chairperson narrating the partnership between BBS and ASF on the occasion of BBS 7th anniversary!
Italian Cooperation, Nishtar Hospital and ASF-P representatives
ASF-P Chaiperson presneting the social component of the project
Interacting with Nishtar medical college students: the future of the care for burns is in their hands...
ASF ED discussing last details with Dr Naheed Chaudry, head of Burn Unit in Multan.
Smile Again Udine team, among whch Dr Lossasso exchanging with Dr Naheed and ASF -P
This is a tangible example of developmental strategy, the sustainability of ASF-P efforts to ensure that acid and burn victims receive relevant medical and psycho social care will be ensured through a north-south cooperation and a private public partnership. Congratulations to Pakistan to launch a unique federal/provincial cooperation right after the devolution process. More news to come!
The information to this effect was shared during a panel discussion on ‘Acid attack and its effect on society.’ The discussion, attended by an audience of more than 150 university students and officials from across Pakistan, was sponsored jointly by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Aurat Foundation, and the Acid Survivors Foundation with the US support. Dr. Marilyn Wyatt, wife of US ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, moderated the event.
The panel included Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Professor Hamid Hassan, a doctor who heads the burn unit at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi, Dr. Khadija Tahir, a psychotherapist that treats acid survivors, Barrister Naveed Muzaffar Khan, a lawyer who defends victims of acid attacks, and Executive Director of Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) Valerie Khan and Aurat Foundation representative and activist Samina Naz. HEC Chairman Dr. Javaid Laghari also spoke on the occasion.
The panelists called for an end to acid attacks and other violence against women and urged all sections of society to come forward and demand strong legislation against the crime and its effective implementation. They said that to bring the change, the whole nation has to reject the acid crimes.
Sharing statistics, Executive Director Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) Valerie Khan said that around 200 such attacks occur annually in the country with most of them reported in southern Punjab and northern Sindh. She said that 70 per cent of acid crime victims are women whereas 30 per cent are men and boys. “In 60 per cent of cases, the reason is domestic dispute,” she said.
Applauding the efforts of the Pakistani legislature to pass acid attack legislation, Dr. Marilyn Wyatt asked the attendees to work to end gender-based violence, specifically acid attacks. She said that the main objective of the event is to raise awareness among university students about the devastating effects of acid attacks and acid crimes on Pakistani society.
“Pakistan’s youth demographic represents 60 per cent of the nation’s citizenry, it is important that you sensitise yourself to this important issue so that your mothers, sisters, and daughters do not suffer from this gruesome crime,” she said.
Dr. Wyatt said that acid victims face acute physical and psychological sufferings; they lose their identity and are deprived of their relationships and friendships. “It is our responsibility to help these victims and play our role in the implementation of the legislation against the hideous crime.”
Sharmeen said that her achievement shows the power of telling story. “The stories of acid crime make headlines in the media but we actually fail to see what these victims have to go through once they survive the attack.” Giving credit to the acid crime survivors, she said that she was lucky to find the strong voices that were brave enough to break the silence. She stressed on the need for educating women about the existence of law against acid crime. “We need to take them out of the mindset that they are responsible for what happened to them,” she said.
Responding to a question asked by a university student regarding the fact that the documentary on acid victims has given Pakistan another bad headline in international media, Sharmeen said that the headline was always positive for Pakistan and was about a Muslim woman receiving the highest documentary-making award. “It has given the image of a country that has the courage to face and solve its problems,” she said. Her answer received appreciation from the young crowd, who expressed their consent with clapping.
Dear all,
We have been talking a lot about the need to go further and beyond the amendment of HURT in the Pakistani Penal Code (the second criminal law amendment 2011 (act 25) that was enacted on 26th December 2011. The Acid and Burn Crime Bill 2012 is a comprehensive legal mechanism that will complement the criminalisation of acid throwing.
The comprehensive legislation addresses the challenges related to the investigation and trial process, it makes the provision of free medical and rehabilitation services an obligation for the state and it provides a funding and monitoring mechanism that will facilitate the implementation process. Hats off to Dr Atiya Inayatullah who has tabled the bill in the national assembly in March 2011!
A champion for burn survivors since 2001, Dr Atiya Inayatullah has been very active in promoting the Domestic Violence Bill and enhancing the cross party synergy within the women parliamentarian caucus, to promote pro=women legislation…
The work has just started!
Dr Atiyya Inayatullah, MNA, PML-Q
Dr Rukhshanda Parveen’s testimony: “Justice DELAYED is Justice DENIED! I was touched when men who were standing there as SPECTATORS joined us.When a man from Baluchistan agreed to my Yelling ( if no Man is ready to lead fateha we women will do it) and offered Dua- He mentioned FAKHRA as Shaheed-Perhaps for the first time an Abondoned wife was given the status of Shaheed:’) Thank you all boys and men who stood with women likemyself -the “sinner ungrateful women” as in the words of Kiswer naheed…”
For Fakhra's vigil, a man from the crowd said : "I am with you", he is in this photo, behind Samar Minallah. And then the other men passing by joined the crowd and shouted slogans to demand justice for Fakhra, joining the civil society in the prayers...
Dr Rukhshanda among demonstrators
Fakhra is not a new tragedy..she was always a tragedy. Her life was a parched stretch of hard rock on which nothing bloomed. Her country of birth gave her nothing at all. Her environment of birth condemned her to social unacceptability and disrespect. She was born without any right of choice.
At the young age of 22 an acid attack left her only marginally alive .her horrific mutilation disfigured her so completely that she was now confronted by open disgust and contempt by everyone who set eyes on her in Pakistan. She also became a liability to her own family. for whom she was once a source of income.
I have met many acid victims. never have I seen one as completely disfigured as Fakhra. She had not just become faceless; her body had also melted to the bone.Despite her stark and hopeless condition, the government of the Islamic Republic Of Pakistan was not in the least God fearing. She was provided nothing..but disdain..and trashed.
At just one single request.a foreign country, Italy, immediately and urgently, arranged for everything Fakhra, and her five-year-old son Nauman required. Despite her extremely disturbing ‘image’, the gracious people of Italy never ever made her feel she was any different to any one of them! In the beautiful city of Rome, Fakhra was able to walk the streets, laze in the parks, and enter a shop or a restaurant in the most prestigious of places, without an iota of embarrassment. In fact every waiter served her more respectfully than he did any other, and every person who looked her way smiled and nodded with respect!
Were the catholic people practicing Christ’s exemplary kindness towards lepers? And were we, the followers of the great religion of Islam, and The Last Prophet (pbuh), still living in the times of ‘Jahalia?’
Despite the fact that medical insurance is extremely costly for the Italian citizen,the Italian government placed Fakhra under the exclusive supervision of one of the most highly reputed reconstructive surgeons of that country. She underwent 38 major surgeries in twelve years! Professor Charvelli’s solemn comment on hearing of the death of his incredible patient was: “I tried to mend her physical scars. but was unable to heal her soul.”
Fakhra was taught to speak fluent Italian, had extensive counseling and assistance from Italy’s social services. But much as she adjusted very well among a foreign people, acquired some semblance of existence, was provided a home from which no one could throw her out. A salary from the Italian taxpayers money.. a school with children from normal Italian families for her son.. There was not a single day that Fakhra did not pine for Pakistan.
“If I don’t get back in my lifetime,promise to take my dead body home,” were words that speak volumes for her capacity to forgive, and her oceanic generosity of spirit..It also throws a high voltage spotlight on the smallness of ‘ours’.
Fakhra was jubiliant on the day parliament passed the law of life imprisonment against acid terrorism.She celebrated the Punjab government’s vow to get that law implemented in letter and spirit on International Woman’s Day.She was thrilled when the documentary ‘Saving face’ won an Oscar award.but she also felt forgotten. As if this pioneering face of acid violence had achieved her life’s purpose. After 13 years and 38 major surgeries, she gave up pretending to be alive.
The courage it took to reject life; was not in the least comparable to the courage it had taken for her to live it. But then, Fakhra Yunas was not just an acid victim.She was a warrior. Despite the fact that the vehicle that contained the spirit of God was so deeply burnt that it had practically melted; that powerful spirit had remained inexplicably and unfathomably inextinguishable.she breathed.inhaled and exhaled that divine breath. Her courage in these last thirteen years will bare witness that she was not so weak as to commit suicide.
Her time had come.
The angel of death had come.
Otherwise, her spirit was too powerful to be put out. It was not a small flickering flame.
Never have I known a human being who has shown more spunk and grit, had such a high threshold of pain, been more accepting of life in any way and any form.and also been jubilant and excited by the smallest joys that came her way. Fakhra died thirteen years ago.
Fakhra died again to remind the world that she had lived.
Allah realised her dream to return to Pakistan. in the only way it was possible for one such as her to be here. among us, the people of this country. under the callous system that rules the ‘so-called’ Islamic Republic Of Pakistan.
Her countrymen should at least now open their hearts and give her the love and respect she so deserves.even though it shall now be hers anyway.Mother earth will receive Fakhra with open arms. And I guess that is what she really loved about Pakistan. the earth of this country.
We, the people of Pakistan should forever remain obliged to Italy, the country, and to itsr incredible people. They carried a responsibility that was ours, a duty that we shirked from..Italy and her people carried our burden on her own shoulders without any sign of tiring out. Indeed it carried the burden of humanity with the spirit of humanitarianism which is the basis of all religions.
We have failed God and Fakhra..but we can still learn a fundamental lesson from this glaring and shameful comparison. With profound gratitude to Signor Maritsi of St Angelica Industries, and to Arsilia who became a second mother to Nauman. To Professor Charvelli for his untiring persistence to give Fakhra renewed hope every time she saw an improvement in her appearance. and especially to Clarice Felli, President of Smile Again Italy, (which annulled the agreement that associated the mother body with Musarat Misbah’s NGO Smile Again-Pakistan.) Under Clarice Felli’s care, Fakhra spent some of the happiest times of her life..Clarice was a lady Fakhra loved dearly, a lady who loved her back as much if not more.
From left to right: Khadija Ali -legal coordinatot Mehergarh, valerie Khan Yusufzai- ASF Pakistan Chairperson, Dr Fouzia Saeed- Mehergarh Director, Aqsa Khan-WORD ED, Maliha Hussain- Mehergarh program director.
On 8th March, International Women Day was Celebrated by the Federal Ministry of Human Rights along with stakeholders and with the prime minister as the chief guest. One day, hundred days more to ensure that our goal is achieved: “We are not tired “, that is what the whole civil society pledged on this auspicious day…
