News Analysis |
The prime suspect in four-year-old Asma’s rape and murder case has been arrested by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police on Wednesday. The Inspector General (IG) of KP police Salahudin Mehsud said that two suspects including a 15-year-old have been arrested in the Asma case.
The IGP told the media that the capture of the suspects was extremely hard since it was a blind case. There was no CCTV footage of the incident and the crime scene was a 16 canal field. The suspect was caught after a blood drop was found on one plant from the crime scene.
Political point scoring and unconstructive criticism serves no purpose but protecting the culprits. The need of the time is social, political and institutional reform so that our children can be protected from predators in the future.
The KP police sent 145 DNA samples to the Punjab Forensics Science Agency (PFSA) and a match was found by the PFSA on Tuesday. Regional Police Officer (RPO) Mardan Alam Shinwari apprised the media that the accused is a 15-year-old close relative of the victim, who lived in the same area.
RPO Shinwari informed that the accused worked at a restaurant on a daily wage basis. He didn’t go to work on Saturday (13th January) because he had to attend a wedding. Asma was heading home and asked the accused to get her sugarcane. “She went into the field twice after which the accused took her to the field and tried to rape her,” he informed. The child started crying and screaming so the suspect tried to strangle her and killed her in approximately 15 minutes.
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According to the KP police, the accused then fled the scene and approached his friend and told him that he had murdered a child. The friend of the suspect has also been arrested by the police.
Civil society has criticized both parties for involving politics in such a sensitive issue. They believe that the need of the time is national unity to fight the menace of child abuse.
The body of the girl, Asma, was found in a sugarcane field on 14th January. The initial forensics report suggested that she had been raped before being strangled to death. The news of Asma’s rape and murder came soon after the news of the rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab in Kasur. Her dead body was found in trash heap.
The rape of minor girls shook the nation and there was a demand for immediate capture and public execution of the culprits. They also exposed the fault lines in our society and the vulnerability of our children but despite the gravity of both tragedies, the political parties in the country did not refrain from political point scoring on these issues.
Read more: Brother of Asma’s murderer arrested in Kohat
PML-N is the ruling party in Punjab and after the Zainab murder case, PTI leaders started pointing out the incompetence of the Punjab government and the Punjab police. They lambasted the Punjab government for not acting on time since the culprit in Zainab’s case was also responsible for the rape and murder of seven other girls.
RPO Shinwari informed that the accused worked at a restaurant on a daily wage basis. He didn’t go to work on Saturday (13th January) because he had to attend a wedding. Asma was heading home and asked the accused to get her sugarcane.
On the other hand, while PTI leaders were busy accusing the Punjab government for the Zainab case, the Asma rape and murder case surfaced on social and electronic media. The PML-N leadership didn’t let go of the opportunity and attacked the KP government and police for their incompetence.
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When the media reports of the suspect’s capture came to light, both PML-N and PTI were quick to take credit. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah credited the Punjab government for the capture of the suspect in Asma’s murder since the DNA tests were done at PFSA. Imran Khan on the other hand lauded the KP police for the capture of the suspects and criticized the PML-N for political gloating.
Commendable work by the professional KP police force. In the Asma case, with just one spot of blood found & no other evidence, no CCTV footage, KP police worked professionally to catch culprit showing they have developed advanced forensic detection capability as well. pic.twitter.com/UVTy4K0zXm
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 7, 2018
Nor was there any political gloating by CM. Instead, as is done all over the democratic world, the police chief gave a professional press briefing. This is the difference between KP's professional police force & the highly politicised & criminalised police force of Punjab & Sindh https://t.co/7UpISpIgyQ
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 7, 2018
Civil society has criticized both parties for involving politics in such a sensitive issue. They believe that the need of the time is national unity to fight the menace of child abuse. Political point scoring and unconstructive criticism serves no purpose but protecting the culprits. The need of the time is social, political and institutional reform so that our children can be protected from predators in the future.