Protestors in Kasur district of Pakistan’s Punjab province broke into the residences of two lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Thursday, Dawn reported. They have been protesting against the alleged rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl since Wednesday.
The protestors ransacked the homes of Naeem Safdar Ansari and Waseem Akhtar, burned their cars and set an outhouse in Akhtar’s residence on fire. Emergency services remained suspended for about nine hours since noon as most of the roads were blocked.
This comes a day after two civilians were killed when the police tried to disperse demonstrators who had attacked a police station. The violence escalated after the funeral prayers for Muhammad Ali and Shoaib.
Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the girl’s family and offered prayers. The provincial government has announced a Rs 10-million (approximately Rs 57.4 lakh) award for information leading to the arrest of the accused.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Sindh Assembly moved four separate resolutions condemning the incident. They demanded that the culprits be arrested and sentenced to death, The Express Tribune reported.
The girl is believed to have been abducted on January 4 when she was on her way to a tuition centre near her house. Her parents were in Saudi Arabia for Haj at the time of the incident. Her body was recovered from a heap of trash on January 9 and was sent to the District Headquarters Hospital for an autopsy. It is the twelfth such incident to have take place in Kasur district in the past one year, the police said.
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