PAMPORE: “Don’t portray yourself as a victim but see yourself as a survivor. Don’t give up and don’t consider yourself as weak,” Sehar Nazir, survivor of an acid attack in 2014, told the audience that had come to listen to her on the occasion of International Women’s Day at Degree College Pampore in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday.
Sehar Nazir was special guest on the International Women’s Day programme organised by Government Degree College Pampore.
Talking to Kashmir Reader later, Nazir said that self-belief is a must to regain the strength to move ahead in life.
“I still face problems, but that doesn’t mean I will give up,” she said, adding that she has to go on for the sake of not just herself but of her parents as well as for her society.
She told Kashmir Reader that she wants to convey to those who face or have faced domestic or other kinds of violence to never lose hope.
“Life doesn’t end here. Life is about moving ahead and facing challenges to the best of your strength,” she said.
She appealed to people to never subject a woman to domestic violence.
It was on December 11, 2014, when Sehar, then a student of Bachelors of Law, was attacked with acid in Srinagar.
She underwent 26 surgeries and lost sight in one eye. She had to spend over 53 lakh rupees on treatment.
The culprits were convicted and are behind the bars.
Sehar demanded exemplary punishment for them. “The accused have been denied bail. I demand that they should be given stringent punishment so that no one musters the courage to commit such a crime again,” she said.

BILAL HABIB