27 December 2022
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
A missing Christian teenage girl has been found dead in a canal in Kamalia town, 60 km away from her hometown of Samundari in Faisalabad district.
The 15-year-old Gulnaz was reported missing along with her father Gul Hameed Masih after they did not return home from a visit to a local hospital on the evening of December 26.
CCTV footage showed both leaving their locality together. But family members said they did not reach the hospital and went missing.
Their relatives lodged a missing persons report with the police on December 31 after a search gave no clue as to their whereabouts. “Police officials told us to search for them for three days and lodge a complaint if they were still found missing,” Shan Masih, cousin of the Christian girl, told reporters after her body was located in a canal near Kamalia.
“Relatives recognised Gulnaz from pictures shared in a police Whatsapp group about the body being found, in Kamalia (Toba Tek Singh),” Shan Masih said.
The relatives also held a demonstration outside Samundari City police station for the recovery of the father and daughter.
SHO City Police Shahid Punnu told Voicepk.net that there was no evidence of sexual assault and the girl had apparently died of an injury. “Police are still looking for the girl’s father who might help identify the circumstances surrounding her death,” he told Voicepk.net.
According to the first information report lodged with Samundri City police station, the complainant Shan Masih said his uncle Gul Hameed Masih went to the Samundri THQ hospital late on December 26 along with his daughter to take medicine for her but had not returned home since.
