Islamabad, Pakistan ? A Pakistani woman made a public appeal Saturday for her husband to be arrested for scarring her face with acid, a plea for justice that is becoming more common as a growing number of South Asians speak out against the rarely punished practice of violence against women.

Identified only as Sakina, the 22-year-old woman said her husband should be given a long prison sentence to set an example. She was encouraged to tell her story by an activist group to underscore that violence against women remains unchecked.

“He should suffer and feel the same pain which I have felt,” she told reporters at the office of the Progressive Women’s Assn.

Sakina said her husband, Zahid Nawaz, threw acid in her face last year in a fight over his drinking and gambling habits. Sakina’s 15-year-old sister, Shahina, also was burned while trying to intervene.

She said police made no attempt to arrest Nawaz, who was moving unhindered in their remote village in the district of Ahmadpur East, 435 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad.

“We are living under fear of another attack,” she said. “I want justice.”

Violence against women reflects the traditionally low social status of women in South Asian societies.

Shehnaz Bukhari, head of the Progressive Women’s Assn., said her group had documented 1,500 cases of acid and burn victims in Pakistan since 1994. Victims are attacked for reasons such as spurning sexual advances and rejecting marriage proposals. She said authorities should ban the sale of acid to unauthorized persons.

Acid attack victims Sakina, right, and her sister Shahina, left, give a news conference with the help of women's rights activist Shahnaz Bukhari. Sakina said she and Shahina were burned last year when Sakina's husband threw acid on them in their home in a remote village in the district of Ahmadpur East.

While acid burns rarely kill, they result in serious disfigurement and suffering, frequently confining women to their homes.

“The victims cannot move in society, avoiding further embarrassment,” Bukhari said. “They face social isolation, which damages their self esteem and their economic position.”

Few women complain of abuse for fear of severing all ties with their families and being left without any means of support. But, last year, one woman who was gang-raped did report the crime.

Mukhtar Mai came forward after a tribal council in the village of Meerwala, about 350 miles southwest of Islamabad, ordered her gang-raped on June 22 as punishment against her family after her teenage brother allegedly had sex with a woman from another clan.

The case drew international attention, and the six men were sentenced to hang. They are appealing.