At least two people were killed on Wednesday when a protest against the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl turned violent in Pakistan, police said.
Paramilitary forces were called to the city of Kasur near the Indian border, Punjab police said.
A senior police official said hundreds were protesting the killing, which also prompted a deluge of outrage on social media.
Photo: Reuters
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the child named Zainab was kidnapped on Thursday last week.
Her dead body was found in a garbage heap on Tuesday.
Zainab was the eighth minor to have been raped and murdered in Kasur in the past year, the official said.
Her murder ignited fury in Kasur.
Violence broke out when demonstrators tried to storm the police station, the official said.
“Two protesters have been killed and three others injured, the situation is still tense,” he said.
It was not clear how the two protesters were killed.
As outrage grew, politicians called for action.
“The beasts who have disrespected our daughters should be punished immediately,” former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif said.
“The condemnable and horrific rape of the minor had once again exposed how vulnerable children are,” cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan tweeted.
The girl’s parents, who had been on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday flew back and told reporters at Islamabad airport that they would not bury their daughter until her killer was arrested.
“For the last two years, we are living in fear, parents are scared to send their kids outside,” her father, Amin Ansari, said in televised comments.
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