Rights Watch | 29th October 2020

Protests erupt in Lower Dir against the murder and alleged rape of two-year-old Hareem Shah; woman gang-raped by two men impersonating police officers in Sheikhupura; man stabs his wife and her alleged paramour to death for honour in Karachi.

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Lower Dir toddler’s murder decried

Lower Dir residents, civil society activists and political workers staged a protest on Wednesday, October 28, against the recent alleged rape and subsequent murder of two-year-old Hareem Shah. Protestors threatened to block the main Chakdara-Timergara road if the culprit was not arrested within three days.

The toddler had initially gone missing from the Sharab Kohi area of Darra some six days back when her family was visiting to attend a relative’s wedding. Her body, which bore signs of torture, was discovered near a hill in Chakdara, Adenzai tehsil of Lower Dir district on Tuesday. Her body was shifted to the Khyber Medical University for an autopsy – a report is still awaited.

Police have taken in ten suspects including relatives and neighbours residing in Sharab Kohi for questioning.

‘Policemen’ rape woman in Sheikhupura

Two men impersonating as police personnel were arrested by Saddar police on Tuesday for abducting and raping a woman in Eskarke village in Sheikhupura. According to the complainant, she had gone to visit a relative with a neighbor, and was intercepted by two men clad in police uniform on her way back. The culprits forced her into a nearby field where they raped and then abandoned her. The woman was able to reach 15 for help.

Woman, her friend killed for honor

One Arshad, a resident of the Sector 4-D slum in Surjani Town, Karachi, stabbed to death his wife of nineteen years, Naheed (35) and her alleged paramour Salman (24) in his home on Wednesday. Police shifted the bodies of slain man and woman to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a postmortem examination. Upon arrest, the accused confessed to the crime, stating that he believed Naheed was having an affair with her friend, Salman, and therefore murdered the two for honour.