KASUR: Chunian police recovered on Tuesday the bodies of three children, who appear to have been killed after the rape, from the sand dunes near the Chunian bridge.
Four children, aged 8 to 12, had disappeared since June, and the last, Faizan, aged 8, disappeared Monday night. Faizan is the son of prayer leader Muhammad Ishaq of the Pir Jahanian village in Chunian. Police registered a case against unidentified kidnappers.
Before Faizan, Muhammad Imran, 12, of Rana Town disappeared on June 3, while Ali Husnain, 9; and Suleman Akram, 8, of Ghausiabad had disappeared on August 8 and 17, respectively.
The locals fear that the children were killed after the rape
On Tuesday, some workers informed the police about a body in a ditch. Later, the police recovered the remains of two more children from the sand dunes. According to some witnesses, the two bodies had been reduced to skeletons.
A wave of shock and terror seized Chunian when the police recovered the bodies.
The locals suspected that a racket was behind the murder of minor children after the rape.
One of the bodies was identified as Faizan's, while the remains are believed to be from Ali and Suleman. The police had not yet found any clues about Imran's whereabouts.
District Police Officer (DPO) Abdul Ghaffar Qaisarani along with a strong contingent of police arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area while forensic experts gathered evidence.
The DPO said Dawn He had formed five teams to locate the culprits, adding that the police would use all the resources to catch the murderers.
He also said the violation would be confirmed after a medical report was issued. However, the possibility of murder after a violation cannot be ruled out. He denied the presence of a racket.
On Monday, Chunian residents had organized a protest against the police for not having recovered the missing children.
Prime Minister Usman Buzdar has taken note of the incident and requested a report from the Punjab police inspector general. He also demanded that the killers be tracked as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, civil society called for a protest on Wednesday (today) against the murder of minors, to express concern about the illegality and failure of the police to protect people's lives. A procession would start from Muhammad Khan Masjid and culminate in Kutchehry Chowk.
In recent years, Kasur has been shaken by multiple incidents of abuse, rape and murder of children. In January 2018, Zainab Ansari, six, was found dead in a pile of garbage near Shahbaz Khan Road, five days after her disappearance. It was the twelfth incident of this type that occurred within a 10-kilometer radius in Kasur for a period of 12 months. His death had caused protests and outrage throughout the country.
The main suspect, Imran Ali, had been arrested on January 23, 2018, and on June 12 the Supreme Court rejected his appeal against the death sentence, noting that he had admitted to committing similar crimes with eight other minor victims. Ali was subsequently executed in October.
In 2015, the Hussain Khanwala village of Kasur attracted worldwide attention when a child pornography ring was stopped. Hundreds of video clips have emerged showing a gang forcing dozens of younger children to perform sexual acts and film them. The gang also used the videos to blackmail the children's families and extorted millions of cash and jewelry.
Posted on Dawn, September 18, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1505833/kasur-shaken-again-as-bodies-of-three-minors-found-in-chunian
