Protests in Kasur over rape, murder of 3 minor boys

Lahore: Protests erupted in Pakistan’s Kasur on Wednesday, a day after the remains of three minor boys, whom the police said were murdered after being raped, were recovered in the city’s Chunian tehsil, the media reported.

Protesters blocked roads in Chunian and burned tyres while chanting slogans against the police. Angry crowd surrounded a police station and pelted stones at it as they protested against lack of arrests and incidents of child abduction, Dawn newspaper reported.

The local traders association and the Chunian Bar Association also called for a strike against the abuse and demanded that the killers be immediately arrested.

The remains of at least three of the four children who went missing from Kasur over the past 75 days were found on Tuesday, the police said, confirming that all three were brutally raped before being buried underground, according to Geo News.

Locals say a fifth child was also missing and suspect that a racket was behind the killing of minor boys after rape.

District Police Officer for Kasur, Abdul Ghafaar Qaisrani, said that nine suspects were taken into custody and their DNA tests were being done. The results are expected within 24 hours.

In the last few years, Kasur has been rocked by multiple incidents of abuse, rape and killing of children. The deaths are an uneasy reminder of the horrific rape and murder of a six-year-old girl whose body was found in a trash heap in the city in January 2018.