Kashmore tragedy: One arrested, another on the run

SUKKUR: The Kashmore Police arrested an alleged rapist who subjected a mother and her five-year-old to gang rape before selling her to another person on the Sindh-Balochistan border who also indulged in a similar beastiality. The accused was Rafiq Malik, who was given into police remand by a local court earlier on Thursday. The police are searching for the other accused Khairullah Bugti.

During the interrogation, Malik confessed to raping the mother-daughter duo, said the police. The medical inspection of the minor also confirmed that she was also subjected to gang rape. She is now under treatment at the Chandka Civil Hospital, Larkana.

The horrific tragedy outraged the country on Tuesday night when the video of the child in agony along with her mother was broadcast by the news channels. The crime happened a fortnight ago in the last week of October when the harassed mother Tabasum, w/o Haroon Malik, narrated her ordeal to the Kashmore Police. According to Tabassum, who lived in Karachi, she was duped by Rafiq Malik whom she met at the Karachi’s JPMC for an attractive employment opportunity at the Kashmore Toll Plaza.

As soon as she reached Kashmore on Oct 25th along with her five-year-old-daughter Aisha, she was allegedly gang-raped by Rafiq Malik and two others. Even the child was not spared whose teeth got broken during the orgy, she told the police. Malik later sold both of them to Khairullah Bugti who subjected them to rape once again. According to Tabassum, Bugti allowed her to leave on the condition that she would bring another woman if she wanted her child back. The worried mother told the police that Aisha was in a pretty bad shape and she was extremely concerned about her safety.

Acting on her complaint, the police began searching for the accused on October 30 and managed to locate the unconscious and traumatised child dumped in a cattle pen on Tuesday. SSP Kashmore-Kandhkot Amjad Shaikh said that raids were underway to ensure the arrest of the other accused Khairullah Bugti. He said a case was registered against Malik at the Kashmore police station under sections 376, 344, 420 and 34 of the PPC, pertaining to rape, unlawful confinement, cheating and dishonesty and common intention, 365 of PPC pertaining to kidnapping, and Section 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Meanwhile, the shocked civil society in Kashmore and Khairpur and other cities of Sindh took out rallies against the incident demanding severe punishments to the accused.