In wake of brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kasur district, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday lambasted the provincial government of Punjab for its failure to nab the culprits. Speaking at a press conference, PTI MNAs Shireen Mazari and Murad Saeed said that the chief minister [Shahbaz Sharif], who has been in power for nine consecutive years, has miserably failed to ensure rule of law in the province.
Shireen said that the minor girl went missing four days ago but police failed to trace out her whereabouts that resulted in her murder after four days when her body was found and it speaks the incompetence of the government. "Why was she not recovered and what police had been doing for the last four days...isn't this shame for those who are in power for the last so many years," she regretted.
She also came down hard on Punjab government for allowing police to fire bullets at protesters who took to the street in protest against apathy as police failed to ensure security to innocent children.
Referring to a statement of a local police chief in Kasur district, who accepted that it was not the first incident as 12 more such incidents had taken place in the past, Mazari asked where the government is if this is the state of affairs in the area.
"Punjab police again fired at innocent citizens of Kasur protesting the rape and murder of little Zainab. The RPO admitted this was the twelfth incident in Kasur in recent past and five DNA tests from victims have been matched so police know a serial rapist/killer is on loose but no action is being taken," she lamented.
She also came down hard on provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, saying the minister simply brushed aside the 2015 child pornography case by declaring it a simple land dispute issue.
"Now this incident has exposed another series of rapes/murders of little girls in Kasur...horrifying and painful," she added. Responding to a question about those involved in killing of Mashal Khan, a student who was killed by an angry mob for alleged blasphemy in Mardan, Murad Saeed said that all the accused involved in the gruesome murder have been apprehended.
"I just want to make it clear that all those involved in killing of Mashal Khan have been arrested by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, and are now being tried in court. They will not be spared and anyone involved in the murder will be brought to book," he maintained.