WUNRN
AFGHANISTAN - ACID ATTACK ON SISTERS
OVER REJECTED PROPOSAL
Whadat / Reuters
November 30, 2011
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A young Afghan woman and her two sisters were the victims
of an acid-throwing attack three days after her family declined a marriage
proposal from an older man, according to authorities in Kunduz province, north
of
All three sisters -- including the eldest, a 17-year-old
whose hand in marriage had been sought -- were hospitalized after the attack by
an assailant who came to their home Tuesday night. He was believed to be
the spurned groom, officials said.
“I visited them in the hospital myself -– their faces
were all covered in bandages,” said Hamdullah Danishi, the acting governor of
Kunduz.
Women’s rights groups expressed outrage over the attack.
Danishi said an investigation was underway.
Acid attacks against women are not uncommon in
Arranged marriages are the norm in much of
The Taliban, and the Pashtun ethnic group from which the
movement is largely drawn, often take the harshest line against women who do
not submit to forced marriages, but cultural norms are equally unforgiving
among other ethnic groups.