In a yet another horrific case of sexual violence against a child reported in the country, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl was first abducted, raped and then killed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday.
The girl was identified as Zainab, who was abducted a day ago.
Hospital sources said that according to the girl's medical, the minor was raped 18 hours ago, after which the girl's upper and lower torso were slashed with a knife.
DNA samples of the girl have been sent to the Khyber Medical College, Peshawar and NADRA has also sought help from other agencies in this regard.
Police said the victim was abducted in Charsadda and the body was recovered in the Daudzai area of Peshawar. Her clothes were recovered from the same spot. Officials added that a special police team has already been formed to arrest the perpetrator.
The girl’s father had registered a complaint with the local police station after Zainab went missing on October 6. He had said in his police complaint that the girl went outside to play around 1pm and did not return home. He had added that the family looked at all possible places but did not find the toddler.
After the police report was registered, the local police started an inquiry and during the course of their investigation, information was received regarding the body of a child being found in the Daudzai area.
Regional Police Officer Mardan Sher Akbar Khan, DPO Charsadda Muhammad Shoaib Khan, SP Investigation Darwish Khan and other officers then rushed to the spot with a heavy contingent of law enforcers.
Police then positively identified the missing girl’s body and shifted it to a medical facility for further procedures. A case of abduction and murder was then registered by the police.
Further sections pertaining to sexual abuse will be added after verification by medical reports.
Soon after the case came to light, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mehmood Khan ordered the IGP and other officials to immediately arrest those involved in the incident.
The K-P chief minister said that the incident was very heartbreaking and inhumane, and those involved in the henious crime would be made an example out of.
Earlier in September, a five-year-old girl in Punjab was raped, hit on the head and set on fire. Five days later, a woman in Lahore was dragged from her car and sexually assaulted on a highway in front of her children.
The two episodes, which occurred hundreds of miles apart, have prompted protests and an outpouring of rage in a country that critics say has a toxic culture surrounding sexual assaults and child abuse.
In another case that garnered much attention and anger, a burnt body of a five-year-old girl, M*, was found wrapped in a sheet in a garbage dump near Essa Nagri on August 5, 2020. The child had been kidnapped, raped and later murdered.
Pakistan has been plagued by episodes of rape and child abuse over the years with the cases only becoming an amost daily occurrence.
