Minor Zainab’s Rape,murder sparks outrage in Kasur

KASUR: Protests erupted in the city on Wednesday after the reported rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab sparked nationwide public outrage.

The minor girl, a resident of Road Kot area of Kasur, had gone missing on January 4 when she went to a tuition centre but never returned. At the time of the incident, the minor girl’s parents were in Saudi Arabia where they had gone to perform Umrah. Zainab’s body was found in a garbage pile near Kashmir Chowk five days after her disappearance.

The initial postmortem report of the minor stated that she was strangled to death after being raped multiple times. However, officials said the exact cause of death would be determined after further forensic examination.

Zainab’s parents claimed that police did not cooperate in finding their child. “If the police would have acted immediately, the culprit would have been caught,” said Zainab’s father.

The funeral prayers of the deceased were offered Wednesday afternoon, led by Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s Tahir-ul-Qadri.

Zainab was laid to rest later in the evening after her funeral prayers were offered for the second time.

“I thank Tahirul Qadri for taking out time for leading funeral prayers of my child,” the father of the murdered girl told reporters.

He said that police and Nadra should employ their resources to identify the suspect, however, lamented that authorities have completely failed in identifying the murderer.

The father of the murdered girl demanded that the perpetrator be “publicly punished.”