A disgruntled man shaved off the hair and eyebrows of his ex-wife and the mother of his 12 children in Sindh province's Larkana district in a stark reminder of the violence and dark ages customs and traditions that women in the rural areas of Pakistan have to put up with.Zehra, the 45-year-old victim, has lodged a complaint with the women's police station in Larkana that her husband with the help of his three nephews had beaten her and then shaved off her hair and eye brows as punishment for leaving him.Zehra complained that she divorced her husband, Abdul Sattar Methlo, two years ago because he used to beat her and was not earning anything, Zareen Chandio, said the SHO of Larkana."Zehra has 12 children from Sattar, nine sons and three daughters. On Saturday she came from Khaipur to Larkana to attend a ceremony of a relative where Abdul Sattar was also present," Chandio said."He picked up a fight with her asking her why she had left him and when she tried to leave he caught her and tortured her and then escaped and is still absconding," she said.The tragic incident in Larkana, the home district of two former Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and the power centre of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, is symbolic of the violence against women in Pakistan.

Violence against women is common in rural areas of the country and many women are victim of "honour killings" by their husbands, brothers or relatives.