Over the last couple of weeks, I've come across several stories from Pakistan that don't involve Christians, but do illustrate wider issues in Pakistani society. First off is that 7 women have been disfigured by acid attacks in just a two day period, in several incidents. In the first, a student at college was attacked by two fellow students because she did not have her head covered with a dupatta (a headscarf seen as a symbol of modesty). They heckled her, and when she shouted out, they threw acid on her face, saying she deserved to have her face ruined. When the girls parents confronted the families of the perpetrators, instead of requests for forgiveness they were met with gunfire and had to flee for their lives.
The second incident involved a woman fleeing back to her home after yet another case of domestic abuse. Her husband came to her families house, promising she wouldn't beat her again, but when she refused, he and two friends broke into their house and threw acid on her and five other women in her family while they slept, leaving them with up to 80% burns on their face and bodies.
In Lahore, in another incident, two Muslims were killed in a shoot out after a militantly anti-Shia group marched through a Shia area, escorting a leader released from bail in July charged with murdering 70 people, mostly Shia. He has been preaching hatred against Shia ever since, and broke his conditions of bail by travelling. The march took place, despite police assurances that it wouldn't. Both sides blamed each other for starting shooting first, but two of the extremist group were killed, and 10 people were injured, including a policeman.
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