Pakistan, Oct. 6 -- There are some fires that do not die with water.They linger - beneath the skin of a society, in its silences, in the soft gasps of women who know that even breathing too freely can cost them their lives.In Punjab, these flames have become a language.And once again, the nation pretends not to understand it.

In Daska, a young bride - five months into her marriage - was set ablaze by the man who promised to protect her, and by the woman who should have stood beside her.Her husband poured petrol. Her mother-in-law held her down.The body burned, the house filled with smoke, and the neighbours whispered, "Domestic matter hai."

She lived long enough to speak, to say their names.Her father filed an FIR.The police wrote her p...