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Child abuse and pedophilia are growing vices in the country, that have existed for long, but cannot be ignored anymore. Ever since the rape and murder of 7-year-old Zainab Ansari, the country has started speaking against the epidemic, considered as one of the worst practices in the world.
Tragedy struck a family in Nawabshah, Sindh, as an 8-year-old girl was raped and murdered by her own cousin. The girl who studied in 4th grade, was present alone at home when her cousin decided to visit. The little child was first taken full advantage of by the predator from her own family, and later, murdered in cold blood.
As per police reports, the girl was sexually exploited a number of times, before being strangled to death. However, the gruesome nature of the incident didn’t end here. The girl’s cousin then went on to cut her throat with a knife. After taking her life, the suspect covered her body in a sheet of cloth and threw it in a livestock area near her house, before he eventually fled the crime scene.
The parents of the little girl informed police and journalists that the family had gone to a relative’s house to offer their condolences on the death of someone they knew. When they returned home, their daughter was missing, to which, they rushed the police station. This is when they recovered the body from a livestock area nearby.
Parents of the little girl was informed by neighbors that their nephew, the girl’s cousin, had visited their house when they weren’t present. This confirmed that the person involved in the girl’s rape and murder was no one else but a member of their own family. The parents of the 8-year-old demanded justice both from the police and media on the brutal murder of their young daughter.
Quick and prompt action by the police resulted in the arrest of the girl’s cousin. The boy was recovered from a friend’s house in blooded clothes, as he did not have a place to go to after what he had done. Police nabbed the culprit and he accepted his crime, stating that he had first raped and the murdered his own cousin.
Growing cases of predatory behavior and child abuse in Pakistan is extremely alarming. NGOs are working in rural areas to change the narratives, in a bid to avoid incidents like these.
