PESHAWAR, Jan 9: A blind woman, seeking divorce from her husband due to domestic violence, has been facing life threats from her husband and has sought security from the government.

The woman, Shakeela Bano, was threatened by her husband, Irfan Aslam, in the presence of a number of people here at the General Post Office, where she had gone to receive her money order.

The woman claimed that she turned blind five years back when she received head injury after being hit by her husband.

The woman is the first blind computer literate in the province and knows how to operate digital telephone exchange. She left the residence of her husband in 2001 and had been living with her mother. However, after continuous threats from her husband, she started residing with her friend.

Interestingly, on Thursday her husband had brought another woman along with him to the GPO, trying to receive the money order which was in the name of his wife. He was trying to convince the concerned staff that the woman accompanying him was Shakeela. In the meantime, the woman reached there along with her counsel.

The officials received an undertaking from the husband that in future he would never try to cheat the GPO officials, following which he was not handed over to the police and allowed to leave.

Shakeela told Dawn that she got married to Irfan in 1991, and ever since that day she remained a victim of domestic violence. “My arms were twice fractured by him as he often beat me on petty issues,” she claimed.

Her medical reports confirmed that due to injury she had now been suffering from irreversible blindness and for her entire life she would live with this disability. “Even after getting blind I tried to live with him but finally I had to quit his residence,” she added.

The victim has now filed a suit for dissolution of her marriage. She claimed that 10 days back her husband tried to abduct her from the busy Saddar area but on the interference of the police his attempt was foiled.

She further claimed that Irfan had also contracted second marriage in 1999.

Her husband, she said, remained unemployed for various years due to which they continued asking for loans from their friends and relatives. Now, she added, she had been receiving threats from him, asking her either to accompany him to his residence or he would kill her.

Replying to a question, she said her husband was interested in taking her back home as she had been earning money through teaching in a private school.

She regretted that the government had not been following the policy of filling seats of disabled persons in different departments in accordance with the quota specified for them. “I have applied for the post of telephone operator in various departments, but till now I have not been given job by any department,” she lamented.

Shakeela requested the government to get her a job in the Pakistan Telecommunication Limited as she knew how to operate the digital exchange.