MARDAN: As the country is still reeling over brutal rape and murder of little girl Zainab in Kasur, another horrific case has come to light of an underage girl from Mardan who was sexually assaulted by an unidentified culprit before being murdered.
Four-year-old Asma was murdered in Jandarpar Gujjar Garhi area of Mardan. The girl was playing outside her home when she went missing and later her body with torture-marks was found from the fields.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IGP Salahuddin Mehsud says rape could not be confirmed as yet and the things would be clear only after receiving report from the forensic lab in Lahore.
Mardan Nazim insists the girl was raped before murder
But district Nazim Himayatullah says that the facts are being concealed in this case.
He said he had seen the medical report of the child which had mention of a rape assault. But later post-mortem report omitted this clue.
Police on Tuesday had raided a house in Asma’s neighborhood and arrested over 70 people who have been imprisoned in different jails. Some of them were later released after interrogation.
The law enforcers are also looking for persons who spotted Asma’s body in the fields and informed her family.
Asma’s family says they have no enmity without anyone either in the village or outside it. However the close relatives of the deceased girl expressed their resentment over brief custody of women of their family.
They said police could come to record women’s statement at the residence but taking them to police station was unfair and tantamount to an insult.
A committee has also been formed comprising some members of the deceased girl and civil society representatives to bring to light facts.
Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has taken notice of the incident and also expressed his grief and said Asma was the daughter of the nation. “We will make all-out efforts to nab the perpetrators of the killing”
He asked whether those protesting in Lahore could come to support to the little girl’s rape and murder.
PML-N leader and Prime Minister’s adviser Amir Muqam condemned Asma’s brutal murder and said this incident had exposed the performance of the so-called reformed police of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
In a statement issued here, he said prior to this, two girls of age 3 and 5 years were respectively raped and brutally murdered in the vicinity of KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.
“Imran’s scale justice changes with the change in province. His conscience only awake when something happens in Punjab but it sleeps when an incident occurs in KPK,” he said. He said the incidents of rape and killing of minors in all over the country was a moment of worry for everyone.
