MARDAN - The murder after rape of a little girl in Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains a mystery.
A four-year-old girl was found dumped in a junkyard in the Jandarpar Gujjar Garhi area of Mardan four days ago. Reportedly, she went missing while playing outside her house a week ago. Her body was found from a sugarcane field the next day after she went missing but local police have failed to make a breakthrough so far.
The incident in the KP district surfaced days after a similar crime in Punjab’s Kasur district hit headlines. The KP government says it is ‘doing its best’ while opposition claims otherwise.
The activists of Awami National Party (ANP) Wednesday took out a rally against police for their failure to arrest the culprits after passing days. Nazim Himayat Mayar of ANP led the rally that started from his office and culminated as a big gathering at Pakistan Chowk.
Mardan District Police Officer Dr Mian Saeed Ahmed told the media at local press club that in addition to a joint investigation team (JIT), four other teams are working on the case under his supervision.
The district police chief blamed the delay in the arrest of culprits on lack of technology, saying: “The incident occurred in a far-flung area where CCTV cameras and other electronic facilities aren’t available. That’s why it is difficult for police to investigate the case on technical basses. Police are relying on human resources.”
He went on: “This is a blind murder and my police accepted it as a challenge. A sum of Rs500,000 award is announced for the informer. The deceased was killed by strangling and her body bore torture marks.”
Quoting the provincial police chief Dawn News reported that the medicolegal reports suggested the deceased might be raped before murder.
On the other hand, Nazim Himayatullah claimed the post-mortem report suggested that the victim was raped before murder. He said that there were torture marks on her neck.
He also showed to the media a document calling it the copy of post-mortem report he received on Whatsapp.
He came down hard on KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and his team for not visiting the victim house for condolence. Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf lawmaker Iftikhar Ali Mashwani claimed the minor girl was not raped.
According to sources in Mardan District Headquarters Hospital, Dr Kalsoom, conducted the post-mortem and sent the specimens to the forensic laboratory for further action. Adviser to PM Amir Muqam, PPP Senator Rubina Khalid and PPP leader Nighat Orakzai also visited the house of deceased girl. They grilled the government over its failure to nail the culprits.
