FAISALABAD: Outraged students and other residents took to the streets on Friday protesting inaction over the alleged rape and murder of a young woman in Faisalabad.



Abida, a student of MA English at Government College University Faisalabad, went missing on Sunday, March 25. Her body was recovered from Dijkot three days later on Wednesday, with initial post-mortem report suggesting she was raped before being killed.

Abida was a student of MA English at GC University Faisalabad

With the culprits still at large, enraged colleagues of the deceased came out on the streets to demand justice for her. Raising slogans in protest, the colleagues demanded that those responsible for the heinous incident be caught immediately and given swift and exemplary punishment.

In a wave of protest reminiscent of the outrage that followed the rape and murder of minor Zainab earlier this year, social media users are using the hashtag #JusticeForAbida on Twitter to demand swift action against the culprit(s).

The National Commission for Human Rights has taken notice of the brutal murder and summoned a report from DPO Faisalabad.

Police authorities said they have nabbed a few people with the help of the deceased’s mobile phone data and are continuing efforts to arrest those responsible; however, no real progress has been made in the case yet.

The deceased's DNA samples have been sent to Lahore Forensic Laboratory.

For inaction over her alleged kidnapping, SHO Gulberg Police Station has been suspended.

According to the student’s family, she had not returned home from her university earlier this week, after which the family registered an FIR with the police. There was no trace found of her, until when her body was found two days ago.

The grieving family said the deceased was a gold-medalist and had recently won a laptop under the Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme. </s> Thousands of Pakistanis rallied on Thursday to seek justice for an eight-year-old girl, who was raped, murdered and her body left on a rubbish tip.

Young students from schools, colleges and universities were joined by the civil society activists and lawyers at protests against the crime in the city of Kasur in the central province of Punjab.

Police found the body of the girl on the rubbish tip in the middle of the city on Tuesday, a week after she was kidnapped, local Police Chief Zulfikar Ahmed said.

Ahmed said an autopsy on Wednesday suggested the girl was raped before being strangled to death at least six days ago.

Protests that erupted in the city on Wednesday continued for the second day as an angry mob ransacked a hospital and the private residence of a local member of parliament, police official Iftikhar Ahmed said.

Students called for the death of the perpetrator at rallies from the southern metropolis of Karachi to the north-western city of Peshawar.

“We want the culprit to be hanged publicly so that no one dares commit such a crime in the future,” a mother at the protest in Peshawar told Dunya Television.

He said there have been a dozen similar incidents in Kasur in the past in which minors were kidnapped, raped and killed, Iftikhar.

He said the DNA testing of the latest victim and in previous cases suggested that a “lunatic serial killer” was behind almost all of the crimes.

 FAT/SH </s> Pakistani residents carry the body of a girl during her funeral in Kasur in Punjab Province on Wednesday, following her rape and murder (AFP photo)

LAHORE, Pakistan — Two civilians were killed when officers fired live rounds to disburse crowds that attacked a police station in Pakistan on Wednesday in a protest over the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl.

Police recovered the body of Zainab Ansari on Tuesday from a garbage dumpster in the town of Kasur in eastern Pakistan, four days after she was reported missing.

It was the twelfth incident of a girl being adducted, raped, and killed in the past year in Kasur district, police say. Residents have been furious at the authorities for what they see as a failure to investigate such cases.

The spokesman for Pakistan’s Punjab province, Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, told Reuters that protesters turned violent and attacked a local police office.

“They started throwing stones at the office and some of armed protesters shot bullets at police. In order to stop them, police resorted to aerial firing,” Khan said, adding that two people were killed and one wounded as a result.

“A peaceful protest was taking place, some students threw stones and police responded by firing at the crowd,” Saleem ur Rehman, a resident who was at the protest, told Reuters. “The law and order situation here is really bad and there have been many such incidents. That is what the protest was about.”

Ansari’s parents, who were not in the country when their daughter was kidnapped, returned on Wednesday.

“I want justice! I want justice!” Zainab’s mother cried, surrounded by reporters at the international airport in the capital Islamabad.

Ansari’s case has attracted the attention of the country’s civilian and military leadership, with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif calling for immediate action.

Police in Kasur deny they have been lax in investigating child abductions in the town. Regional police officer Zulfiqar Hameed told Reuters that four kidnappers had been arrested and another killed during an arrest attempt.

“Investigations reveal that in each case a paedophile kidnaps little girls, rapes them and kills them,” he said.

The case of Ansari would soon be solved, he said: “We have got CCTV footage that shows a young man taking her along. We will catch him very soon,” he said, adding that 95 DNA samples had been taken from suspects.

A number of police officials have been transferred out of the region for failing to investigate complaints of missing children since 2015, when authorities uncovered what they called a paedophile ring linked to a prominent local family. At least two people have been convicted in the case, in which authorities say hundreds of children in the district were abused. </s> Second Day of Protests Over Child Rape and Murder

Demonstrators accuse police of failing to act against perpetrators of child murders

Hundreds of protesters enraged over the murder of a young girl threw stones at government buildings in Kasur for a second day on Thursday, amid growing outrage over the killing.

The demonstrators hurled projectiles at a hospital, attacked the home of at least one local politician, and complained of police inaction in the city of Kasur in Punjab province, a day after two protesters were killed when the rallies turned violent. The outrage has spilled over in Kasur after the body of a child was found in a garbage heap Tuesday, where she is believed to have been dumped after being raped and murdered.

The child, named as Zainab, is the eighth minor to have been raped and murdered in Kasur in the past 12 months, police have said. Officials had earlier put her age at eight, but her family told AFP that she was just six years old.

“Up to 1,000 protesters are in the streets,” said Kasur police spokesman Muhammad Sajid. “They have thrown stones on the buildings of the government hospital, police and deputy commissioner’s office… Security is deployed and trying to control the situation.”

The demonstrators had accused police of failing to act over the child murders.

Sajid said that up to 20 suspects had been apprehended “but the investigators have been unable to find any clue so far.”

“Police are not cooperating with us,” claimed Ghulam Rasool, an uncle of Zainab. “We want justice. We want the culprit to be brought in front of us. We don’t want an innocent to be presented as the culprit and killed just to wash this case.”

Zainab’s killing has sparked a social media deluge, with politicians, celebrities, cricketers and average Pakistanis demanding #JusticeForZainab.

On Wednesday at least two protesters were killed when police fired into the crowd of demonstrators as they tried to storm a government building in Kasur, a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Anger at police has been fueled by Kasur’s infamy as the site of what has been dubbed Pakistan’s largest child abuse scandal. The 2015 scandal saw allegations that at least 280 children were filmed being sexually abused by a gang of 25 men who blackmailed their parents by threatening to leak the videos.

It came to light after parents of the victims clashed with police in Kasur during a protest blasting authorities for failing to prosecute the case. The Punjab government has announced a reward of 10 million rupees for information leading to the killer’s capture, as well as compensation packages for the protesters killed on Wednesday. </s> A mob angered over the recent rape and murder of an 8-year-old Pakistan girl attacked a police station and a nearby government building in eastern Punjab province on Wednesday, triggering clashes that left at least two people dead and several injured, police said.

The violence erupted in the city of Kasur hours before the funeral of Zainab Ansari, whose case has drawn wide public outrage.

The girl went missing last week while going to a nearby home for Quranic studies. Her parents, who were away at a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia at the time, returned on Wednesday, landing at the Islamabad airport.

Zainab’s body was found on Tuesday in a garbage bin, senior police officer Imran Nawaz Khan said. Police say she was abducted, raped and murdered. Officer Maqsood Ahmed said six girls were sexually assaulted in recent months in Kasur and that police were probing whether there was a connection in the cases.

WATCH: Pakistani student beaten to death by peers in latest ‘blasphemy killing’

Activists on social media have condemned the government for failing to arrest those involved in the crime.

As the attack on the police station and the subsequent clashes unfolded Wednesday, local TVs broadcast footage showing police firing shots in the air and toward the stone-pelting mob, trying to disperse it. In one segment, an officer asks another to hold direct fire, after which the second officer is seen continuing to shoot at the protesters.

Also Wednesday, the Lahore High Court’s chief justice ordered a probe into Zainab’s killing.

Zulfiqar Hameed, the police chief in Kasur, refused to say whether the two people killed in Wednesday’s clashes had died from police gunshots. Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the police were trying to contain the violence and find and arrest those involved in the girl’s murder.

Kasur shop owners shut their businesses Wednesday to express their anger over Zainab’s slaying.

READ MORE: Why are women in Pakistan and India at risk of brutal violence?

Firebrand cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri who took part in Ansari’s funeral service demanded the local government be replaced, saying it has “no right to remain in power after the killing of Zainab Ansari.”

In a speech to thousands of mourners, he blamed the Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, for failing to “protect lives and honour of innocent girls” in the province.

Qadri also issued an ultimatum to Sharif and Sanaullah to step down by Jan. 17 to avoid street protest.

Qadri is a staunch political rival of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party and he has led violent rallies in the capital, Islamabad, since 2014 after eight of his supporters were killed in anti-government rallies in Lahore, Punjab provincial capital. </s> KARACHI: PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has condemned the brutal rape and murder of MA English student, Abida, who was found dead, after allegedly being subjected to sexual abuse in Faisalabad.

“The growing incidents of crimes against women are intolerable and culprits should be apprehended without any delay,” said Bilawal in a press statement.

The PPP chairman has asked the government to immediately arrest her tormentors and ensure exemplary punishment to them as per the law.

Earlier, the postmortem report confirmed that she was assaulted.

Abida Ahmed, 25, was a student of MA in English at Faisalabad Government College University. She went missing four days ago on her way to the university.

Her body was fished out of a stream on Wednesday, after which police registered a case and started investigations.

According to the autopsy report, the body bore marks of torture.

Ahmed’s family blamed the police for her death.

“We requested the police to register a case when she went missing. They refused and said do inform us when she is found,” her brother told SMAAA.

Fear has gripped the second largest city of Punjab as 26 bodies have been found in the past three months.

Residents of the city and university students have protested a protest against her abduction and murder of Abida Ahmed.

Residents of the city and university students have protested a protest against her murder. </s> As Pakistan continues to protest the rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab Ansari in Kasur, Samaa TV news anchor Kiran Naz chose to register her protest by hosting the news bulletin with her daughter. “Today, I am not your news anchor Kiran Naz, today I am here as a mother. This is why I am sitting here with my daughter,” she said, as her daughter sat comfortably in her lap. “It is true when they say that the smallest coffins are the heaviest and entire Pakistan is burdened by the weight of her coffin.”

The TV journalist was referring to the rape and murder case which has sent shockwaves across Pakistan this week. The girl was allegedly abducted on January 4 when she was attending a Quran class. Her body was recovered by the police from a heap of garbage on January 9. The incident prompted severe backlash from civil society members and rights activists who have been protesting the repeated instances of child abuse and abduction in the Kasur region.

Here’s all you need to know about the case

The girl’s parents were on an umrah (pilgrimage) to Saudi Arabia when the incident took place. Naz on Wednesday pointed out the the tragic irony, saying that while the parents were praying for their daughter’s long life in Saudi Arabia, “a monster in Pakistan” killed her. “This is not just a child’s murder. This is the entire society’s murder,” she said.

The incident has sparked violent protests in the country. On Wednesday, police action against protesters resulted in the death of two civilians. Several others were injured.

For all the latest Pakistan News, download Indian Express App </s> Hundreds of protesters enraged over the murder of a young girl threw stones at government buildings in a Pakistani city near the Indian border for a second day Thursday, amid growing outrage over the killing.

The demonstrators hurled projectiles at a hospital, attacked the home of at least one local politician, and complained of police inaction in the city of Kasur in Punjab province, a day after two protesters were killed when the rallies turned violent.

The outrage has spilled over in Kasur after the body of a child was found in a garbage heap Tuesday, where she is believed to have been dumped after being raped and murdered.

The child, named as Zainab, is the eighth minor to have been raped and murdered in Kasur in the past 12 months, police have said.

Officials had earlier put her age at eight, but her family told AFP that she was just six years old.

"Up to 1,000 protesters are in the streets," Kasur police spokesman Muhammad Sajid told AFP.

"They have thrown stones on the buildings of the government hospital, police and deputy commissioner's office... Security is deployed and trying to control the situation."

The demonstrators had accused police of failing to act over the child murders.

Sajid said that up to 20 suspects had been apprehended "but the investigators have been unable to find any clue so far".

"Police are not cooperating with us," Ghulam Rasool, an uncle of Zainab, told AFP.

"We want justice. We want the culprit to be brought in front of us. We don't want an innocent to be presented as the culprit and killed just to wash this case."

Zainab's killing has sparked a social media deluge, with politicians, celebrities, cricketers and average Pakistanis demanding #JusticeForZainab.

On Wednesday at least two protesters were killed when police fired into the crowd of demonstrators as they tried to storm a government building in Kasur, a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Anger at police has been fuelled by Kasur's infamy as the site of what has been dubbed Pakistan's largest child abuse scandal.

The 2015 scandal saw allegations that at least 280 children were filmed being sexually abused by a gang of 25 men who blackmailed their parents by threatening to leak the videos.

It came to light after parents of the victims clashed with police in Kasur during a protest blasting authorities for failing to prosecute the case.

The Punjab government has announced a reward of 10 million rupees ($90,000) for information leading to the killer's capture, as well as compensation packages for the protesters killed Wednesday. </s> LAHORE, Pakistan, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Protests broke out across Pakistan on Thursday after the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl in a district south of Lahore, due to public anger at what is seen as the authorities' failure to investigate such cases.

It is the 12th such murder in the town of Kasur in a year, and has raised concern that a serial killer may be on the loose.

Two people were killed on Wednesday when police fired at angry protesters in Kasur, and a local resident said schools, offices, and markets remained shut in the town on Thursday.

Demonstrations were held in all cities between Faisalabad in the northeast down to Pakistan's southern metropolis of Karachi.

In Lahore, the provincial capital of the state where Kasur is located, protesters blocked a major road connecting the two, causing traffic between them to be suspended.

Police recovered the body of Zainab Ansari from a garbage dumpster in Kasur on Tuesday, four days after she was reported missing.

The chief minister of Punjab province, Shahbaz Sharif visited Ansari's parents to assure them that the perpetrators would be apprehended soon, a provincial government spokesman said.

"(Sharif) has announced Rs 10 million ($90,000) for anyone giving information about the kidnapper," Punjab government spokesman Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan told Reuters. He said it could not be ruled out that the murders involved a serial killer.

A police official speaking on condition on anonymity said two of Ansari's relatives had been interrogated and 26 locals are currently in custody and being questioned. He added that police are waiting for forensic evidence to be collected and analysed.

Ansari's family doubts justice will be done.

"We don't have any expectations from police, as we gave proof to police including the CCTV footage, but they could do nothing," her uncle Hafiz Muhammad Adnan told Reuters.

Adnan said the kidnapper waited to dump the body after search parties took a break after four days of looking.

"It appears as if the kidnapper is a local who developed familiarity with Zainab to take her along, probably telling her that he would take her to her parents," he said.

A number of police officials have been transferred out of the region for failing to investigate complaints of missing children since 2015, when authorities uncovered what they said was a paedophile ring linked to a prominent local family.

At least two people have been convicted in connection with that case, in which authorities say hundreds of children in the district were abused. ($1 = 110.5000 Pakistani rupees) (Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Protestors take to the streets in Faisalabad, Pakistan, following the rape and murder of a local university student.