Acid attack victim Fakhra Yunus commits suicide

Acid attack victim, Fakhra Yunus Acid attack victim, Fakhra Yunus, wife of former lawmaker Bilal Khar, was laid to rest in Karachi on Sunday. Hundreds of people attended her funeral. Earlier,

her funeral prayers were held at Edhi Centre.
Bilal Khar is the son of former governor and chief minister of Pakistani state Punjab Ghulam Mustafa Khar.
Fakhra’s body arrived at Karachi Airport from Italy’s capital Rome early on Sunday amid protests led by the women\'s wing of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
Yunus ended her life when she jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Italy on March 17. She was provided shelter in Italy after being attacked by her husband 12 years ago in Karachi.
Hundreds of MQM women workers led by National Assembly member Khushbakht Shujaat, iconic social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi and MQM leader Nasreen Jaleel, gathered at Jinnah Airport where they chanted slogans demanding punishment for the crime Khar allegedly committed.
Tehmina Durrani, who had helped Yunus find refuge in Italy, arrived at the airport along with Yunus’ family. Yunus’ son, now 17, had handed over the funeral responsibilities to Durrani. Speaking to media, Durrani said Fakhra had lived her life with courage. In earlier interviews, Fakhra had expressed her wish to return to Pakistan to seek justice, but it proved elusive for the courageous lady.
The incident that changed Fakhra\'s life took place in 1998 when she was an 18-year-old resident of Karachi’s red light area in Napier Road’s Bulbul Bazar, when she met Bilal Khar who was an MP from Muzaffargarh.
After a whirlwind romance, the pair got married, but differences soon emerged. Fakhra faced both physical and mental abuse from Khar for three years before she eventually escaped and moved in with her mother.
 Khar, then decided to take ‘revenge’ by pouring acid over his estranged wife on May 14, 2000, as their then five year old son watched the horrific crime.
The acid attack left Fakhra severely burnt, with her face particularyl injured. She survived the ordeal but had to spend three months in intensive care. Khar then used his political clout to avoid arrest and absconded. Yunus’s family faced difficulty in registering a crime report against him. On October 31, 2002, Khar was eventually arrested, but released in 2003 on a Rs 200,000 bail and is still a free man.
In her last message, Fakhra had written that she was committing suicide over the silence of the law on the atrocities and insensitivity of Pakistani rulers against women like her.
Khar on Sunday denied that he was responsible for the acid attack that disfigured his wife.
“I vehemently deny having done anything wrong let alone throwing acid on my wife. It is a malicious allegation against me without any proof. When the alleged attack took place I was in Lahore,” he told reporters.