'I feel so bad I can't look in the mirror any more': Teenager tells of how man she turned down in marriage scarred her with acid
By Daily Mail, 18 May 2012
An Afghan teenager has told of the horrific moment she was left scarred for life after the man she turned down in marriage attacked her with acid.
Mumtaz, 18, was the victim of a scorned man who decided if he couldn't marry her, he'd make sure no one else would want to.
She said: 'I feel so bad, I do not look at myself in the mirror anymore.'
Mumtaz bears the scars of an acid attack after she refused marriage to a man who wanted to make sure no one else married her
The man had asked for her hand in marriage, but Mumtaz's family declined the offer.
Then, she said one night several men showed up at their home and attacked her family.
Finally two armed men held her, pulled her head back, and let the man who had wanted to marry her pour acid all over her face.
'I was in the hospital for 10 days in Kunduz, and later they brought me to Kabul,' Mumtaz told CNN. 'Most of my body was burned. When the doctor gave me medicine I felt like I was being thrown into a fire.'
A few of the men involved have been arrested but not the one responsible for changing Mumtaz's face forever.
This was the first time she had agreed to show her face and tell her story on television, partly because she fears for her life.
A few of the men involved have been arrested but not the one responsible for changing Mumtaz's face forever
Mumtaz now lives in a shelter for women who have been abused which currently holds 16 women, some with young children.
'This shelter has helped us a lot. If they were not here to help me, I would have been dead by now. My life was in a great danger,' Mumtaz said.
Mumtaz is learning to read and write for the very first time and is hoping to receive treatment for her scars in India.
Mumtaz's story is not unusual in a country where there is still deep-seated acceptance of the repression of women.
Mumtaz now lives in a shelter for women who have been abused which currently holds 16 women, some with young children
Human rights groups say overall conditions for women in Afghanistan have improved since the U.S. led war started, but there are still too many cases where women are treated as subhuman.
Heather Barr, of Human Rights Watch in Afghanistan, told CNN:
Quote:
'Since 2001 there has been some really important progress. Literacy has improved.
'There are about two million more girls in school right now then there were at the time when the Taliban fell.
'Infant mortality has fallen and age expectancy has increased. But I still think the overall picture is less than people really hoped for.'
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A 2008 study by Global Rights revealed 87 per cent of Afghan women reported suffering from domestic abuse.
President Hamid Karzai signed legislation aimed at eliminating violence against women in Afghanistan.
Campaigners for women's rights say the law is good but enforcement of the law is lax.
Photos-Teenager Attacked with Acid= She Refused to Marry Attacker
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