"Acid-throwing is on the increase. The government has done little to restrict the sale of acid or to punish those who use it to injure women," says an Amnesty International report.

Bela Ansar was coming to home with her two friends when Nasir Hussain, angry over rejection of marriage proposal, threw acid on them. His target was Bela Ansari, as the two others girls escaped with minor injuries.

The district administration moved, as the case was highlighted. Police, as usual, used delaying tactics in registering the case.

According to AI, domestic violence is grounded in the conviction of many men that women are their property and obliged to fulfill men's needs and wants without question and without fail. This view is often shared by women who believe that violence is somehow deserved by them or something they can do nothing about and who consequently shrink from reporting it.

Though Nafeesa Shah, district nazim Khairpur, has assured to shift Bela Ansari to Islamabad or Karachi for better treatment facilities, the unfortunate victim is still in the Civil Hospital, Khairpur. The hospital lacks facilities to treat acid victims, only lengthening Ms Ansari's plight.

Apart from the physical pain, experts say, acid-throwing leaves the victim with a huge psychological fight.

In one survey by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, it was reported that in 2000, almost 90 percent of women including those educated to the graduate level, did not realize they had any rights at all, such as those of divorce.

As Bela Ansari belonged to a poor family, getting the case registered against Nasir Hussian was an uphill task. Her father went to police stations and came empty handed. Police used various pretexts to avoid registering case against the attacker.

The district Nazim has to intervene to get the case registered, which led to the arrest of Nasir Hussain.

This was not the first incident of acid throwing in Khairpur. Jawanti, a Hindu girl, became a victim of acid-throwing last year. Sanjay Kumar was the perpetrator. Jawanti's face was severely disfigured.

The cases of Bela Ansari and Jawanti did not get the international attention like Fakhra Younus' in 1998.

According to AI, in 1998, Fakhra, then 19, married Bilal Khar, a former member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) of Punjab and son of former Punjab governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar. Bilal Khar had already been married and divorced three times before and was married at the time to a fourth wife with whom he had two children - facts which Fakhra was not aware of. From the very beginning, Bilar Khar sexually, physically and verbally abused Fakhra.

Her decision to leave Bilal Khar in April 2000 was unacceptable to him; within days he visited her at her mother's house in Karachi and emptied a canister of acid over her head, disfiguring her for life, and causing her immense physical, mental and emotional suffering. She collapsed screaming as her face, shoulders and chest were extensively burned, her lips fused together by the acid and one eye was badly damaged. Fakhra underwent extensive skin grafts during three months in Civil Hospital in Karachi but some of the grafts were unsuccessful, leaving her unable to move her neck and right hand. Surgery for her eye and reconstructive surgery for her nose and lips could not be carried out in the hospital. She later said: "I don't look human any more. My face is a prison to me."

After a painful delay, Fakhra was taken to Italy for plastic surgery. Will anyone come forward to help Bela Ansar out of her pain.

At that time, Hina Jilani, Secretary General of the HRCP, said: "The message is clear: A person guilty of scarring a woman's face with acid can get away without punishment."