A brave young mum shows how her face was horrifically disfigured in an acid attack by the jealous man whose marriage proposal she turned down.

Sidra Kanwal was attacked by a 22-year-old man who could not accept her rejection after he proposed to her.

The man confronted Sidra on her way to work at a clothes factory in Karachi, Pakistan.

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Sidra Kanwal holding pictures of herself before she was attacked by acid 

When she refused his advances, he showed her a bottle of acid he was carrying and threatened to commit suicide if he was jilted. He further threatened her by saying if she would not marry him, he would leave her unable to marry anybody else.

It was at that moment the man threw the acid on Sidra’s face.
Sidra said, “I felt severe pain and my heart stopped beating for a few moments and I couldn’t breathe.”

The acid, which can be bought for as little as 15p a bottle with no questions asked in the streets near where she was attacked, seared her nostrils together.

This means the only way she can breathe through her nose is via a white plastic tube which she wears all the time.

Although her attacker was quickly caught and sentenced to jail, Sidra’s ordeal was far from over.

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She said her three-year-old son initially refused to live with her after she was hurt because he was afraid to even look at her.
“I cry all the time. This tragedy has distanced me from my beloved son.

“He ran away and refused to talk to me. He seemed afraid of even looking at me. I have been stripped of my identity.”

Surgeons are now trying to rebuild Sidra’s face. She is one of six patients being helped by hair transplant surgeon, Dr Asim Shahmalak from Crown Clinic in Manchester.

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Dr Shahmalak has already spent £50,000 of his own money on a mercy mission to Pakistan. As well as carrying out transplants, he helped train local doctors and technicians so that his work could carry on at local hospitals on his return to the UK.

Dr Shahmalak was introduced to the patients by the Karachi based charity Depilex Smile Again whose founder, Masarrat Misbah, has worked tirelessly to help victims of acid attacks.

Other patients helped include Sana Naz, 24, who lost both eyebrows and most of her eyelashes in an acid attack by a former male friend.

Niaz Bano, 52, was attacked with acid ten years ago after a family row and needed reconstruction work to her left eyebrow and eyelash.

Dr Shahmalak is also helping patients hurt in accidents including Arzoo Iqbal, 20, who suffered serious facial scarring and lost most of her left eyebrow after collapsing on a hot plate following a fit and Salma Hanif, who lost her left eye after a cooking accident.
Dr Shahmalak said, “I wept when I heard their stories. 

“Helping to rebuild their faces is some of the most rewarding work that I do. Just seeing their smiles after the surgery makes it all worthwhile.

“They had given up hope of ever getting help because the government in Pakistan cannot afford to do anything for them. We were their last hope.

“They are not accepted by society because of their disfigurement. They cannot get jobs and, in some case, they have been disowned by their families and left to beg on the streets.

“There is so much more work to do. I am just glad that I am able to make a difference to these people’s lives.”