Man wanting a son kills newborn daughter in Pakistan’s Punjab province

PTI, Mar 8, 2022, 12:23 PM IST

Aman who desperately wanted to have a son, has allegedly killed his seven-day-old daughter in Pakistan’s Punjab province by shooting her, police said, in yet another heinous incident of female infanticide in this conservative Muslim-majority country.

The incident took place on Sunday in Mianwali, which is the hometown of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

According to senior police officer Ismail Kharak, the suspect named Shahzaib Khan had married Mashal Fatima two years ago, and she gave birth to a daughter a week ago.

”Hearing about the news of the birth of the girl who was named Jannat by her grandparents, Khan started cursing his wife and daughter,” Kharak said.

Quoting Fatima, he said that Khan was furious and left the house a few days ago, only to return on Sunday to kill his daughter.

”Fuming in anger, he first beat me and cursed our daughter. Later, he took out a pistol from the cupboard and pumped bullets into her body,” Fatima said.

She informed the police that her husband was obsessed with having a boy as a first child from their marriage.

”My husband was obsessed about having a boy, but no one in the family knew that he would commit such a gruesome crime — killing his own daughter,” she said.

Khan managed to flee and the police are conducting a search to arrest him.

A murder case has been registered against Khan based on the complaint lodged by Fatima’s brother.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has directed the provincial chief for the arrest of the culprit at the earliest.