KASUR, Pakistan: Two people were killed as a result of police firing in Punjab’s Kasur City where riot broke out on Wednesday over police failures to initiate any action against culprits involved in alleged rape and murder of a minor girl.
The eight-year-old Zainab was found lying dead in trash heap near Kashmir Chowk on Tuesday, five days after she was abducted from Road Kot Area of Kasur and allegedly raped.
As the news of Zainab’s murder spread in Kasur, enraged people took to the roads and registered their strong protest against the police inaction over the matter. They blocked various roads and markets.
The infuriated protesters also broke into the Office of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kasur on Ferozpur Road. They chanted anti-police slogans, pelted stones and broke glasses of police mobiles. As the situation deteriorated, police resorted to firing on the protesters which left two of them dead.
Meanwhile, funeral prayers of Zainab was offered in Kasur in which a large number of people including Chairman Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri participated.
While speaking after the funeral prayer, Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that the brutal murder of a minor girl was an insult to humanity. He said that four days had passed, but yet none of the culprits was apprehended. He said that the Punjab government had filed to protect the peoples’ lives and properties; therefore, it had no right to rule the people.
Police said that Zainab was kidnapped on January 5 when she was going to a Tuition Centre. Police also confirmed that she was strangled to death after being raped.
It is pertinent to mention here that 11 minor girls were kidnapped and then murdered in Kasur during the last one year; however, police didn’t arrest a single culprit.
Earlier in the day, the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif chaired a meeting in Lahore to review the ongoing investigation into murder of a minor girl in Kasur.
The Chief Minister directed police to arrest the culprits as soon as possible. He said that he would personally monitor progress in the case.
Talking to media, the Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that police would apprehend the culprits involved in the murder of Zainab in next few hours with the help of CCTV footage.
