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A Pakistani news anchor presented last night’s broadcast with her daughter on her lap in honour of the six-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered on Tuesday. Zainab Ansari was caught on CCTV being led away by a mystery man and was later found raped and strangled on a rubbish pile about a mile from her home. She is the sixth child to have been abducted, raped and murdered in the city of Kasur in the past year, and local police believe that the killings may have one perpetrator. Last night, Kiran Naz dedicated the 7pm news broadcast on Samaa TV to Zainab, and criticised authorities over the fact that the killer still walks free. ‘Today I am not Kiran Naz. Today I am a mother. That’s why I am sitting with my daughter,’ Ms Naz said as reported by NDTV.com ‘I have nothing else to talk about today,
except Zainab,’ she said at the end of a nearly two-minute-long clip. ‘It is true that a child’s corpse is the heaviest. Today Pakistan is buried beneath the burden of the little one’s funeral. The murder has caused outrage in Pakistan, and violent mass protests have been shaking Kasur, located in Punjab province, for two days. Hundreds of protesters hurled projectiles at a hospital, attacked the home of at least one local politician, and complained of police inaction. 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, ‘Up to 1,000 protesters are in the streets,’ Kasur police spokesman Muhammad Sajid said. ‘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’. Zainab was kidnapped on her way to a Koran recital while her parents where in Mecca performing a religious pilgrimage. Speaking at Islamabad airport as he arrived back in the country, her father Ameen Ansari said, as his wife sobbed: ‘We will not bury Zainab until the killer is caught. ‘He alleged that the police did not cooperate in finding his daughter ‘If the police would have acted immediately, the culprit would have been caught.’ ‘Police are not cooperating with us,’ Ghulam Rasool, an uncle of Zainab, said on Thursday. ‘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.’ Pakistanis expressed their shock on social media using the hashtag ‘justiceforZainab’. Among those voicing anger was the cricket star and politician Imran Khan who tweeted: ‘The condemnable & horrific rape & murder of little Zainab exposes once again how vulnerable our children are in our society. ‘This is not the first time such horrific acts have happened. We have to act swiftly to punish the guilty & ensure that our children are better protected.’ Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai wrote that she was ‘heartbroken to hear about Zainab’, adding: ‘This has to stop. Gov and the concerned authorities must take action.’ Ihtisham ul Haq, summed up many people’s exasperation at a lack of progress in finding the killer. ‘The picture of Zainab’s rapist & killer is clearly captured. Why he is still roaming freely? Can our agencies and authorities capture him?’, he tweeted. Can we please catch this animal and punish him publicly? Can we do something to protect our children?’ Firebrand cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri who took part in the girl’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. He issued an ultimatum to Mr Sharif and Mr Sanaullah to step down by January 17 to avoid street protests.
A Pakistani news anchor presented last night’s broadcast with her daughter on her lap in honour of the six-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered on Tuesday. Zainab Ansari was caught on CCTV being led away by a mystery man and was later found raped and strangled on a rubbish pile about a mile from her home. She is the sixth child to have been abducted, raped and murdered in the city of Kasur in the past year, and local police believe that the killings may have one perpetrator. Last night, Kiran Naz dedicated the 7pm news broadcast on Samaa TV to Zainab, and criticised authorities over the fact that the killer still walks free. ‘Today I am not Kiran Naz. Today I am a mother. That’s why I am sitting with my daughter,’ Ms Naz said as reported by NDTV.com ‘I have nothing else to talk about today,
except Zainab,’ she said at the end of a nearly two-minute-long clip. ‘It is true that a child’s corpse is the heaviest. Today Pakistan is buried beneath the burden of the little one’s funeral. The murder has caused outrage in Pakistan, and violent mass protests have been shaking Kasur, located in Punjab province, for two days. Hundreds of protesters hurled projectiles at a hospital, attacked the home of at least one local politician, and complained of police inaction. 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, ‘Up to 1,000 protesters are in the streets,’ Kasur police spokesman Muhammad Sajid said. ‘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’. Zainab was kidnapped on her way to a Koran recital while her parents where in Mecca performing a religious pilgrimage. Speaking at Islamabad airport as he arrived back in the country, her father Ameen Ansari said, as his wife sobbed: ‘We will not bury Zainab until the killer is caught. ‘He alleged that the police did not cooperate in finding his daughter ‘If the police would have acted immediately, the culprit would have been caught.’ ‘Police are not cooperating with us,’ Ghulam Rasool, an uncle of Zainab, said on Thursday. ‘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.’ Pakistanis expressed their shock on social media using the hashtag ‘justiceforZainab’. Among those voicing anger was the cricket star and politician Imran Khan who tweeted: ‘The condemnable & horrific rape & murder of little Zainab exposes once again how vulnerable our children are in our society. ‘This is not the first time such horrific acts have happened. We have to act swiftly to punish the guilty & ensure that our children are better protected.’ Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai wrote that she was ‘heartbroken to hear about Zainab’, adding: ‘This has to stop. Gov and the concerned authorities must take action.’ Ihtisham ul Haq, summed up many people’s exasperation at a lack of progress in finding the killer. ‘The picture of Zainab’s rapist & killer is clearly captured. Why he is still roaming freely? Can our agencies and authorities capture him?’, he tweeted. Can we please catch this animal and punish him publicly? Can we do something to protect our children?’ Firebrand cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri who took part in the girl’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. He issued an ultimatum to Mr Sharif and Mr Sanaullah to step down by January 17 to avoid street protests.
