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  "path": "/partner/acid-attack-woman-doctor-quetta",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-09T13:09:06.000Z",
  "site": "https://nukta.com",
  "tags": [
    "burns to seven percent of her body",
    "Pakistan has criminalized acid attacks"
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  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nA man threw acid at Dr. Mahnoor Nasir, a postgraduate trainee doctor, at Civil Hospital Quetta on Saturday, causing burns to seven percent of her body. The attack has triggered strikes and protests across Pakistan's medical community, with doctors demanding better security and justice for the victim.\n\n#### What happened in the Quetta acid attack on a female doctor?\n\nA lift operator at the hospital, identified as Humayun Shah, threw acid at Nasir while she was on duty. Officers killed Shah at a bus station as he tried to flee. Nasir was transferred to Karachi for specialized treatment and may require a skin transplant abroad, according to the Balochistan chief minister's spokesman, Shahid Rind.\n\n#### How has Pakistan's medical community responded to the attack?\n\nMembers of the Young Doctors Association stopped work and staged a sit-in at the hospital on Tuesday, gathered beneath a banner reading \"Justice for Dr. Mahnoor.\" They said they would continue striking from non-emergency care until demands for better security and a thorough investigation were met. Quetta's police inspector general, Imran Shaukat, confirmed an investigation was underway.\n\nMedical practitioners stage a protest to express solidarity with acid attack victim doctor Mahnoor Nasir, in Quetta on June 9, 2026.AFP\n\nHai Baloch, chairman of the Balochistan branch of the Young Doctors Association, described the incident as a \"catastrophic security failure.\" He questioned how a hospital employee could bring acid into the facility and attack a doctor in broad daylight. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also organized a protest in Quetta, calling for stronger security in government hospitals and stricter regulation of acid sales.\n\n#### What does the acid attack mean for women doctors in Pakistan?\n\nThe attack has intensified long-standing fears about safety for women working in Pakistan's health sector. Quetta-based doctor Shazia Khapulwak said female doctors and paramedics were living \"in a state of fear of being harassed, raped, subjected to violence.\" Islamabad-based medical officer Naima Arshad said she could not sleep after seeing footage of the attack and described going into \"survival mode.\"\n\nThose fears carry real consequences for a profession already facing a severe shortage of practitioners. Surveys suggest around a third of women leave medicine after graduating, despite outnumbering men in medical schools. Around 70,000 women, almost a fifth of Pakistan's 370,000 registered doctors, are listed in official registries but are not practicing.\n\n#### How widespread are acid attacks in Pakistan?\n\nPakistan has criminalized acid attacks, which disproportionately target women, and imposes heavy penalties for the offence. The Acid Survivors Foundation recorded around 1,180 violent incidents involving acid and other burn-causing substances between 2011 and 2018, though no recent reliable national data exists. UN Women Pakistan condemned the attack as among \"the most devastating forms of gender-based violence,\" warning of lifelong physical and psychological consequences for survivors.\n\nBalochistan-based doctor Zeenat Shawani said the attack would deter families from allowing daughters to pursue medicine. \"When the hospitals are not safe, who will dare to send their daughters for medical practice and education,\" she told _AFP_. Kashif Panezai of the Human Rights Commission questioned why the government had not acted against the open sale of acid in markets.",
  "title": "Acid attack on woman doctor sparks fear and protests across Pakistan"
}