In a fit of rage, Rasheed Ahmad gouged out his former wife’s eyes with a hammer, Pakistani police have reported. The man is said to have wanted “teach her a lesson for having loose morals.”
The vicious attack occurred Sunday in Bahawalnagar, a district in
Pakistan’s Punjab province, The Express Tribune said on Tuesday.
When the couple and their five children were faced with financial
hardship, 37-year-old Shama Bibi took a position working as a
maid. Incensed by her decision to work without his approval,
Ahmad subsequently filed for divorce.
Following the termination of their marriage, Bibi left for Lahore
with one of her sons. Four of her younger children remained with
Ahmad in the city of Minchinabad.
Bibi’s attempt to visit her children at their father’s home on
Sunday culminated in a brutal attack, which left her blinded and
unable to walk. Horrified at the vicious treatment she was
subjected to her family rushed her to a local hospital in
Minchinabad.
Her ex-husband was questioned by police several hours after the
incident. Ahmad confessed to assaulting and blinding his former
wife of 19 years.
“I wanted to send a message through her to all women with
loose morals,” he said. Doctors said the woman lost cornea
in both eyes and had five fractures in her legs.
Pakistan’s conservative traditions in regard to women have led to
many similar attacks, and even “honor killings” of women
who do things that are interpreted as immodest or unacceptable
are often overlooked by the authorities. Just last week, a young
couple was found in eastern Pakistan tied up with their throats
slit by the girl’s parents after they married for love.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that 869 such
killings were reported in the media last year, but the true
figure is likely to be much higher as many cases are not reported
and the government doesn't collect any central statistics.