Police in Balochistan are investigating after a six-year-old girl was strangled and dumped near a garbage heap after apparently being subjected to rape attempts.
The girl who was from the minority Hazara ethnic group, was found on Wednesday last week in Quetta, the capital of the restive southwestern province of Balochistan.
Hazaras are mostly Shia Muslims and have borne the brunt of the wave of sectarian violence that has swept Balochistan in recent years, mostly perpetrated by Sunni Muslim extremist groups.
“It is a heinous crime and police are making all out efforts to solve it,” Inspector General of Police for Balochistan, Amlash Khan, told the media.
Khan further added that some potential suspects were being questioned.
Quetta city police chief Abdur Razzak Cheema said the victim, who was the daughter of a gardener working at an army facility, was found near a dump close to her home. She had been strangled with a rope, he said.
“There were a lot of bruises on the girl’s body that show that attempts were made to rape her,” he added.
The victim’s distraught parents were at a loss to understand the crime and demanded justice from the state.
