Rape, Murder of Girl Breaks Pakistan's Silence on Sexual Abuse
The brutal rape and killing of Zainab Ansari, a 7-year-old girl whose body was left in a garbage dump, has unleashed a wave of revulsion around Pakistan, revealing a string of child abductions and killings by a suspected serial predator and generating outrage at a culture of silence surrounding sexual abuse.
Kasur is a congested district of around 2.5 million people in eastern Pakistan, near the border with India. The city of Kasur is surrounded by brick kilns and tanneries and has hundreds of small factories making shoes and embroideries, all of which employ children - making them vulnerable to abuse.
The brutal rape of Zainab has roiled Conservative Pakistan and revealed a sexual predator who has raped and killed at least 11 girls in Zainab's hometown of Kasur.
On Jan. 23, authorities announced the arrest of a suspect in connection with the series of killings, including Zainab's. At a news conference in the Punjab provincial capital of Lahore, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif identified the suspect as Mohammed Imran. He was arrested near Kasur.
A child protection committee has launched a program in schools warning children against going with strangers following the brutal rape of Zainab.