Six-year-old Zainab Ansari's killer gets four sentences in Pakistan
A Pakistan court has sentenced a 24-year-old man, Imran Ali, to four death sentences for raping and murdering a six-year-old girl, Zainab Ansari, last month in the city of Kasur, south of Lahore. Additionally, Zainab's killer has also been linked by the police to the assault and murder of several girls in the area. Zainab's murder had triggered outrage and protests in Kasur.
Zainab's death has also been used for political leverage
While one reason for the outrage is the mounting anger over the abductions and killings, Zainab's death also received media attention because it was politicized. Opposition politicians have used the issue to criticize the ruling PML-N's party, which is based out of Punjab province where Kasur is located. Punjab CM, Shahbaz Sharif, is likely to be the PML-N's prime ministerial candidate.
Kin of other victims claim partiality in attention
"Zainab's family are rich and have political connections. All of the rest of us are poor. No politician came to see us. No one cares," said Irfan Ali, uncle of six-year-old Qainat who went missing in November and is the only survivor of the attacks.
Protesters demanding justice for Zainab got shot
Zainab went missing on 4th January, and a few days later, her body was found in a rubbish dump. She had been raped and strangled. Zainab's death sparked outrage across Pakistan and an angry mob took to the streets of Kasur to protest police inaction amid a spate of abductions and killings over a year. Two protesters were shot and killed by the police.
The only survivor, six-year-old Qainat, lives in misery
Qainat, the only girl to have survived her ordeal, has been fighting for her life. She is currently in the hospital, paralyzed from head to toe, for two months now. These days, she has difficulty recognizing people too.
Police found traces of the same DNA in six victims
According to a police document obtained by the BBC, there have been 10 such abductions and killings in Kasur since January 2017. Investigators had recovered traces of the same DNA from six of the victims, including Zainab. All six victims were young girls who went missing extremely close to their homes, and their bodies were found in dumpsters or abandoned houses.
