In Southwestern Pakistan, a man has been blinded by his own father and brothers for wanting to marry a woman he fell in love with.
Abdul Baqi thought his family would be happy to help him to get married, however, he received a different response from them.
Abdul’s father and four brothers accused him of violating Islamic values and literally took his eyes off as a punishment.
The horrendous incident happened on May 13, 2018. His father and brothers locked his mother and sisters in a room and dragged Abdul to the corner of their house, where they tied him down and started beating him with batons.
“One of my brothers removed my eyeball using a teaspoon. Then my father took the knife and cut it as it was hanging on my face,” Abdul told VOA news. “One of them [brothers] stepped on my head to make sure I that I do not move and others removed my second eye.”
Abdul, a resident of the Loralai area of Balochistan province, did not expect that his own family would brutally attack him and blind him.
Looking back, Abdul said he was ready for any consequences.
“If they would have even killed me, I would have still kept my promise of love and would have not begged for my life,” Abdul added.
Before the assault, he was supposed to marry the woman he fell in love with.
Abdul told VOA news that his brothers have ties to the Taliban and are very conservative. They had warned him that speaking to a girl over the phone will violate Islamic values and that he was a heretic.
Abdul said that a friend transported him to a hospital after the vicious attack, and once in the hospital, he reported to the police about the incident.
The police then arrested his father and two of his brothers, while the other siblings had escaped.
According to the police, Abdul’s father claimed that his son was suicidal and wanted to kill himself that’s why they tied his hands and legs.
Abdul rejected those claims and believed that his family would attack him again.
After finding out that Abdul was beaten and blinded, the woman’s family agreed to their daughter’s marriage with him.
“The family of my love found out about the incident and sympathized with me and told me that they would marry their daughter to me without any dowry,” Abdul said.