7-Year-Old Pakistani Girl Found Raped and Murdered in Dump Sparks Massive Riots

According to ABC, the victim, Zainab Ansari, was abducted and went missing for four days before she was found on a trash dump on Tuesday. Authorities concluded that the victim was raped before being strangled to death by an unnamed suspect.

In the postmortem report, it was suggested that Zainab was brutally assaulted by the suspect where she suffered injuries on her body and face, particularly in her neck where a bone was fractured, BBC reported.

Authorities have yet to find a straight lead to identify the suspect, but the police said that there have been 12 similar cases reported in the past two years. Five of those are linked to one suspect, which is now being hunted down by officers. It was also said that DNA samples have already been taken from 90 possible suspects.

Zainab’s father, Ameen Ansari, told BBC: “It’s like the world has ended… I have no words.”

The investigators have already released the CCTV footage of when Zainab was abducted by the suspect as well as the sketch of the wanted man.

Ameen and Zainab’s mother continue to appeal to the authorities to do more to catch the murderer responsible.

“We are going to try and not bury our child until the issue has been properly resolved. We are going to appeal to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, to the army chief of Pakistan, and everyone that has daughters. If there is any humanity, they should take action immediately,” Ameen said.

“I want justice. I want justice. I don’t know anything else. I just want justice. I do not have Zainab with me any more,” the victim’s mother added.

Both Zainab’s parents were out of the country and on a pilgrimage when she was abducted. They’ve only returned to Kasur on Wednesday, ABC said in its report.

Citizens of Kasur, meanwhile, were furious by the news and the authorities’ lack of action to stop the violence against children. Protesters, on January 11, Thursday, became violent, throwing stones at government buildings and setting some of the officials’ cars on fire as a sign of protest.

“They had thrown stones on the buildings of the government hospital, police and deputy commissioner’s office… security is being deployed and trying to control the situation,” a police spokesman told AFP, further adding that “up to 1,000” people joined the street protest.

Two protesters were killed in a clash between the people and the police, and several of them were injured during the ordeal.

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Others have also expressed their support to bring justice to Zainab’s case. Pakistan’s Samaa TV news anchor, Kiran Naz, went on air on Thursday’s bulletin with her daughter sitting on her lap.

“Today I am not Kiran Naz, rather I am a mother today and that is why I am sitting with my daughter,” she said, as translated by BBC.

Referring to Zainab, the news anchor further said: “the smallest coffins are the heaviest, and the entire society is burdened by the weight of her coffin.”

People from other parts of the world have all joined hands to help bring #JusticeForZainab on Twitter – and even kids are doing their part. Here are some of their tweets:

 

Featured image via Twitter / @iihtishamm (Left, Right)