January 15, 2018
KASUR: A new CCTV video has captured the last moments of seven-year-old Zainab before her disappearance. Zainab was brutally raped, murdered and dumped in a garbage pile, in a chilling tragedy that sparked nationwide protest and grief.
The new video footage shows a suspicious person beckoning her to come with him, after which the little girl, donned in a frock and leggings, walks towards him.
Zainab was kidnapped on January 4 and her body was found dumped in a garbage pile in Road Kot area of Kasur, five days after her disappearance.
The heinous incident triggered a countrywide movement for justice with the hashtag #JusticeForZainab, as the civil society rallied in cities and towns across the country demanding swift action against the culprit(s).
Almost a week after the tragedy, no suspects have yet been caught. Displeased at no real progress in the case, Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court had summoned IGP Punjab over the police's failure to nab the culprit(s).
On Monday, the IGP Punjab did not appear in the Lahore High Court. During the hearing of the suo motu case, LHC Chief Justice, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah remarked that the Punjab government and police appeared non-serious in the rape and murder case of Zainab.
In the hours following the incident, Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif constituted a Joint Investigation Team for inquiry, while Chief Justice Saqib Nisar took suo motu notice of the rape and murder of the minor.
Muhammad Ameen, the aggrieved father of the seven-year-old girl, lamented before the media on Sunday that not a single suspect in the case had been arrested.
“The police keep assuring us that the suspect will be arrested soon,” he said.
Earlier, Zainab's father had slammed the police for “negligence in tracing out the culprit(s) in time” to save his daughter’s life.
“The police showed negligence over the last five days. Prompt action by the police [in the days since her kidnapping] could have saved my daughter,” the father had said.