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Show The Salt LakeTribune In Bangladesh, “The police know whothe attackers are, but often won't arrest them. Even if the case goes to Women Who Say court, it takes years for a conviction,” Ali said. No Get Burned Bangladeshi law gives judges the right to impose sentences from 8 years tolife imprisonment for acid throwers. Only one man @ Continued From A-1 has been sentenced to life, in 1995. There is not much left of midnight when she was awakened by the noise of men cuttin; through the walls of her bamboo hut outside the town of Mymensingh An instant later came the seorching pain as acid splashed Payara Begum’s face. She still moanswith pain. The wounds re- fuseto heal. Theacid thrower was the tutor of Begum’s two children. A marTied woman, she indignantly re- into herface, hurled by an elderly jected the tutor’s advances and man whosemarriageproposal she last month, in broad daylight, he had turned down. Khatun’s face was burned, and she wasblinded forlife. Some of the acid splashed on to her two small sons who are now with her in the hospital, scarredfor life. The boys, ages 4 and 6, had clung to their mother, a 30-yearold widow, crying asthe assailant burst through the wall. John Morrison, a consultant for UNICEF, said the problem is so seriousit merits internationalattention. “It’s somethingthat is kept qui- et in Bangladesh. Some people are arrested, others are not. We want the government to take this seriously. It has become so bad oneofthelatest victims was a 12- tossed a canfilled with acid over “My husband is a good man. He comesto visit me. I hope he won't leave me now,” Begum whis- pered. In a country where men have the right to as manyasfour wives, the husband often marries a second wife if the first becomesold, ill or incapacitated. Lawyersand doctors alike here agree the acid-throwing fad is a tragic byproduct of a gender revolution. In years past, men doused disobedient wives with kerosene view,is far more destructive than kerosene burns,” said Sen. bizarre proportions. UNICEF's Morrison found out that the 12-year-old girl who had tients’ faces were old and should have been changed long ago. But gauze is in short supply, he explained. Worse, he said, he does not have the equipment to perform skin grafts, and that means an increasein infections. His patientslie still and alone All of them once had dreams, ambitions, small business ventures and even scholarships. Now, un- less their rural families have mer- cy on them,their destinyis to becomestreet beggars. “I'm better off dead. What use amI now to anyone?” said Khatun. “If I testify against this man, his family may kill me or kill my children. But I will testify. He must be punished.” She speaks with great effort through a mouth grotesquely twisted by the acid. Tearstrickle from one empty eye socket; the other eye catches only a gray shimmer oflight Khatun’s storyis not unusualin this ward of the damned. The stories behind the barbarities are similar, Many cases are pending, but there are few convictions. Usually THE WASHINGTON POST NATOgaveits secretary general theauthority to launch airstrikes where in Yugoslavia on Saturdayeven as Yugoslav government and senior ethnic Albanian officials reacted cautiously to a Western demandthat theybegin negotiations on Kosovo's future. The bold NATO gesture was intended to maximize pressure on YugoslavPresident Slo- bodanMilosevic and leaders of Kosovo's separatist ethnic Albanian majority to move quick- ly toward accepting a Western-drafted peace pian that wouldrestore autonomyto the prov- ince and end an 11-month war that has cost morethan 1,000lives. NATO “hasagreedin authorizingairstrikes against targets in Yugoslavterritory,” NATO Secretary-General Javier Solanasaid at alliance headquarters in Brussels. “J will take Western ultimatum in separate m 1 Milosevic and with senior et nian leaders who seekindependence for Kosovo, a provinceof Serbia, Yugoslavia’s dominant republic. Neither side ruled out formal accep- tance of the proposal h senior aidesbeforesayingif his governm ticipate in the proposed will par- n astate- ment issued laterto state ne , the Yu goslav government said it preferred that negotiations be held in Serbia rather than France. The statement alsosaidthe te clude representativesof all of K minorities. notjust representat prise 90 percentof the populat pliance” with demands that they begin negotiations in France by Saturday and conclude officials have long challenged th hope that bringing in other m As NATO announced its decision, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook delivered the eventual independence. three ethnic Albanian le head of svo's largest ethnic Alba rs dent ethn Albanian litical € and Veton Surroi. an inde pen news gave their unqualified promise ver pu to participate in thetalk Adem [ the politica esentative of the Kosovo Liberation he ethnic A D ading d e could rreply uly affer further cont tions NATO has assembled a powerful armadaof several hundred planes Kosovoregion. In the ance hassteppedupexer But theurgency and warships in the he of reaching a quick ously about introducing groundtroops into etween Kosovo to supervise any truce. NATO diplo: mats said a rangeof optionsis being studied but the most plausible calls for the deployment ofas many as 30,000allied troops =| medical costs of caringforthegirl would eliminate the rival family as competitors for the purchase of a piece of land,” he said. Some of the disfigured women, like Jamara Khatun, have been fortunate. She was oneof a dozen women treated by a team of plastic surgeons from the Italian branch of INTERPLASTIC, a worldwide group of Good Samaritans who came to Dhaka for two weeks last year with all their equipment and operated on some of Sen's patients. They produced amazing results in restructuring some of the devastated faces. Anothersix girls were taken to Spain for treatment by Spanish plastic surgeons. But what Sen and Bangladesh really need is equipment that allowssurgeons like Sento applyat home the skills he acquired in Germany,Austriaand Britain Said the irate doctor, who has seen more pain than he cares to remember: ‘If we really want to stop the man-rights lawyer with the Asso- {hanged] in a public square, and I now provides legal aid to eight of the victims. know what it feels like.” pose exemplary punishment. The men who do this should be personally would like to throw someacid in their faces so they'll PA aeas CLEANING DUCT MASTERS..: Furnace & Air Duct Cleaning * Powerful Truck Mounted Equipment © We vacuum & brush for the best possible results Gems wilmatch SESE 9669366 ators sansa] mens xeam SUPERBOWL ae @ SHRIMP SPECIAL ‘Saturday &SundayOnly — Jan. 30 & 31 (ED ~ 10s READY-TO-EAT. COOKED,PEELED,DEVEIN 26-308 Only12.99/, Sai. 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She Milosevic under newthreat ofairstrikes from membersof military alliance i talks don’t progress “Then, suddenly, these barbarians graduated to acid-throwing which, from a medical point of the burn ward of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, pointing out that the gauze bandagesonhis pa- NATO Secretary-General Has Finger on the Button andset them onfire. year-old girl.” On a Muslim holiday this month, Sen was moving through WORLD Sunday, January 31. 1999 OP A. STORES Monny Therougn SAU re) 6) Visit us ontheInternet at warw.remi. com Cunsen Summ |