New child abuse case sparks outrage in Pakistan

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A minor girl breathed her last at a hospital in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore late Monday night where she was admitted after being allegedly raped and burnt alive.

It is the latest child abuse case in Pakistan, where the reporting of such cases has seen an upsurge since the beginning of 2018.

The brutal rape and murder of 7-year-old girl Zainab Ansari earlier this year in Kasur district near Lahore, in particular, shocked the entire country and drew global attention.

Kasur became the center of a massive child abuse case in 2014 and 2015, where the rape and murder cases of 12 minor girls, all aged between 5 to 8 years old, have been reported in the 12 months until January this year.

The anger

The latest incident took place in the town of Chichawatni, 450 km (300 miles) south of the capital, Islamabad, in Sahiwal district in eastern Punjab Province, where angry family members and residents took to the street in protest, demanding the death sentence for the culprit, the local media reported on Tuesday.

Members of the Civil Society light candles and earthen lamps to condemn the rape and murder of 7-year-old girl Zainab Ansari in Kasur, during a candlelight vigil in Islamabad, Pakistan, January 11, 2018. /Reuters Photo

Businesses were closed in the town.

The girl, who was a second grade student, was reported missing on Sunday evening. She was found the same evening, unconscious and with burns all over her body.

The local media quoted doctors as saying that she received 70- to 80-percent burns.

She died during treatment on Monday night at a Lahore hospital.

The police said they had taken a suspect into custody after the case was filed.

'Serial rapist' nabbed

A prime suspect in at least five rape cases of minors was arrested in the southern city of Karachi, reported the local media on Tuesday.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) for the city's East Zone Zulfiqar Ali Larik held on Tuesday a press conference to announce the arrest, saying police formed a special team to investigate the matter after receiving similar complaints in the city's Malir district.

He told the media that DNA results in five cases pointed to the same suspect, adding that all the rape crimes took place on Fridays.

The suspect, the DIG said, appears to be mentally ill and has been attacking girls from age 7 to 9 for the past four to seven years.

In figures

The number of child abuse cases marked 1,764 in the first half of 2017 with 62 percent of the cases being reported from Punjab, according to data collected by non-governmental organization Sahil, which runs a child protection program.

Data released in January shows a total of 4,139 cases were reported in 2016.

It revealed that as many as 11 cases are reported from across the country every day.

A slide showing a picture of Imran Ali, suspected of being a serial killer responsible for the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl, Zainab Ansari, is shown at a press conference in Lahore, Pakistan, January 23, 2018. /Reuters Photo

The data suggests that child abuse cases are not new in Pakistan, but the subject has been taboo until Zainab’s case, which has emotions running high in the country since January this year.

It led to a debate on local television as well as protests across Pakistan, with thousands rallying on social media to demand justice for the minor.

Her body was recovered from a garbage dumpster in Kasur four days after she was reported missing in January.

An anti-terrorism court had sentenced convict Imran Ali to death on four counts in the Zainab murder case, while the Lahore High Court had dismissed his appeal against the trial court's verdict.

[Cover: Members of the Hazara community hold candles to condemn the rape and murder of 7-year-old girl Zainab Ansari in Kasur, during a candlelight vigil in Quetta, Pakistan, January 11, 2008. /Reuters Photo]