ISLAMABAD - Dr. Marilyn Wyatt, wife of US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter, joined Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in calling for an end to acid attacks and other violence against women during a panel discussion on Tuesday at the Higher Education Commission. The panel discussion, attended by an audience of more than 150 university students and officials from across Pakistan, was sponsored jointly by the Higher Education Commission, the Aurat Foundation, and the Acid Survivors Foundation with US support. Applauding the efforts of the Pakistani legislatures to pass acid attack legislation, Dr. Wyatt asked the attendees to work to end gender-based violence, specifically acid attacks. Dr Wyatt said: ‘The main objective of this event is to raise awareness among university age students about the devastating effects of acid attacks and acid crimes on the Pakistani society’. Dr. Wyatt also noted that US assistance helps empower Pakistani women through civil society, academia and the government. Through the Gender Equity Programme, implemented by the Aurat Foundation, USAID provides grants to civil society organisations which work to end gender-based violence and advance women’s rights and economic opportunities, she said. USAID has provided 76 grants valued at $3.5 million for Gender Equity programmes. The panel featured Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Professor Hamid Hassan, a doctor who heads the burn unit at Benazir Bhutto International Hospital in Rawalpindi, Dr. Khadija Tahir, a psychotherapist that treats acid survivors;,Barrister Naveed Muzaffar Khan, a barrister who defends victims of acid attacks and representatives from the Acid Survivors Foundation and Aurat Foundation.