A former dancing girl who was left severely disfigured after acid was hurled into her face, has committed suicide 12 years after the attack.
Fakhra Younus, 33, felt she looked “not human” after the attack, which was allegedly carried out by her then-husband Bilal Khar.
Khar was accused of pouring the corrosive substance over her face as she slept, in full view of the victim’s five-year-old son.
Younus, then 21, was left fighting for her life and has endured 39 separate surgeries since the attack. She had left Khar earlier amid accusations of physical and verbal abuse.
Her nose was almost completely melted making it difficult for her to breathe.
Khar, the son of a former Pakistan governor, was acquitted, but many believe he used his connections to avoid justice, AP states.
Younus jumped from the sixth floor of a building where she was living and being treated in Rome on March 17, having finally decided life was no longer worth living.
Her body has since been returned to Pakistan, reigniting anger over her tragic case.
The former wife of Khar’s father, Tehmina Durrani, became a high profile supporter of Younus.
Durrani, who said Younus’s injuries were the worst she had ever seen on an acid attack victim, said: ”So many times we thought she would die in the night because her nose was melted and she couldn’t breathe.
“We used to put a straw in the little bit of her mouth that was left because the rest was all melted together.”
After Younus’s suicide, Durrani wrote a column in The News, stating: “Her life was a parched stretch of hard rock on which nothing bloomed.”
Durrani also wrote movingly about the "open disgust and contempt by everyone who set eyes on her in Pakistan" and gave heartfelt thanks to the Italian government for providing Younus with care.
News of Younus's death has been received with sadness around the world, with many calling for action over the 8,500 acid attacks reported in Pakistan in the last year.
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