Another Zainab

Circumstantial evidence suggests that human negligence played a large part in the rape and murder of the five-year-old baby girl, Marwa, in Karachi. In December 2019, the Senate passed the Zainab Murder Alert Bill 2019 to pave the way for the child protection legislation to become a law. The bill also provides for the setting up of a helpline to report missing children, and Zainab Alert Response and Recovery Agency (ZARRA) was established to issue an alert for a missing child. ZARRA is to coordinate with all relevant authorities and LEAs, and maintain an online database of all children reported missing or kidnapped with their current status.

The police say Marwa’s father informed them on Saturday morning that his daughter went missing on Friday morning. The family started searching for the child, made announcements from the local mosque about her disappearance and also put up posters in the area where the family lives. Later, the child’s father lodged a report about the girl’s disappearance. The baby was found murdered late on Saturday night. Autopsy confirmed that the five-year-old was subjected to rape before she was killed. The murderer(s) torched the body to hide her identity. She was identified by the clothes she was wearing. She died of head injuries as she was hit with a heavy object on the head.

Even if the police did not hear the announcements about the disappearance of the child, a missing report was registered with them on Saturday morning. The law enforcers had more than 12 hours at their disposal — time enough — to sound a countrywide alert. This could have saved the girl’s life. It is difficult to say whether ZARRA has been established or not because it has not been given sufficient publicity. If this is so, it is a serious failing as an innocent child has been brutally killed in consequence of this laxity. We should keep a constant vigil not to allow any more Zainabs and Marwas to be assaulted and killed.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2020.

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