PESHAWAR: A number of incidents of assault on children and the killing of at least two of them in the last two weeks in the Saddar area have spread fear among the parents who want the arrest of the culprits and ensure the protection of all such young girls and boys.
The first incident was reported in the Railway Quarters near Cantt Railway Station in the first week of July when an eleven-year-old Mahnoor was found dead and there were signs of torture on her body. The case was registered and the samples of the body were sent for forensic analysis.
Besides, geo-fencing was conducted while a number of people were interviewed to find the culprit. The case is still under investigation and no headway has been made so far.
On Sunday another seven-year-old girl was found dead close to a mosque in Kali Bari street in the busy Saddar Bazaar. The area is not far from the place where the first incident happened.The deceased girl, Hiba was apparently strangulated.
The Father of the girl told the cops that she had left for a tandoor in Saddar but did not return.The family searched for the girl in the vicinity. Later, the locals found her body in a local mosque, just opposite a temple in the Kali Bari area in Saddar.
Though there were some reports that both the girls were assaulted before they were killed, investigators said they could only confirm any sexual assault after the result of the medical reports.
Provincial minister Kamran Bangash, spokesman for the KP government Mohammad Ali Saif and others visited the Kali Bari area on Monday after Chief Minister Mahmood Khan took notice of the murder of Hiba.
The senior cops informed them about the incident as well as the investigation conducted so far.These two are not the only incidents that happened in Saddar and nearby areas in the last couple of weeks.
A local during the Eid days told police that unidentified predators assaulted his five-year-old daughter in a building within the limits of Gulberg Police Station.The girl was wounded and her father told police the doctors said she had been raped.
Police officials said the result of the medical reports is awaited to confirm anything about the three incidents.
They said special teams are investigating these cases from all angles. The officials said the DNA samples of the suspicious people have been collected while police are collecting other pieces of evidence to work out the cases.
Apart from the young girls, a nine-year-old boy was also allegedly assaulted in the limits of the Pishtakhara Police Station the other day.Officials said the accused in the case, Mohib from Gulberg, has been arrested.
Many on media and social media sought strict punishments for all those involved in crimes against children, especially rape and murder.There are reports that a number of such cases go unreported. The Child Rights Movement, a civil society organization, condemned a series of incidents of sexual abuse of children in KP.