Figures compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan show that the practice is increasing. This may be due in part to the country's economic woes. Men who might previously have taken a second wife now kill the first because they cannot afford to maintain both. At least four women are said to be murdered every day by husbands or in-laws dousing them with paraffin. In Rawalpindi, about 40 women are admitted to hospital each month, often with as much as 90 per cent burns.
Most victims die.
Pakistan has no specialist burns units, apart from a small private one, and hospital hygiene is often poor. One of the few survivors is Sabira Khan. For two years, he beat her and kept her prisoner in the house in Jhelum where he lived with his family, until one day her mother arrived, insisting on seeing her. Outside, her mother heard her screams and, with the help of neighbours, managed to rescue her. Sabira suffered 60 per cent burns.