Ten-year-old’s murder, suspected rape fuel calls for police reform in Pakistan

KARACHI: The murder and suspected rape of a ten-year-old girl in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Thursday sparked calls for police reform by the victim’s family and rights activists who say officers had delayed filing a police report when she first went missing and acted negligently in investigating the case.
Police recovered the body of Farishta Mohmand, who went missing on May 15, on Monday evening from a village on the outskirts of Islamabad. Her father Gulam Nabi recognized her from her clothes. He has told media that police delayed filing a case report, known in Pakistan as a first information report, until May 19. Police are also still investigating if Mohmand was raped and tortured before being murdered.
Firdous Ashiq Awan, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s de facto information minister, said the premier had taken notice of Mohmand’s case and ordered the suspension of police officers accused of being negligent.
The recent case has been compared to the rape and murder of six-year-old Zainab Ansari in January 2018, which sparked outrage and protests across the country.
“Farishta is no more but now we need justice and a change in the behavior of police so another Farishta may not be raped and killed,” Mohmand’s brother Abdul Qayyum told Arab News on Thursday. “Had the government swung into action at the beginning and our police report been registered on time, my sister would still be around me.”
Mohmand’s family, ethnic Pashtuns who hail from Mohmand agency in northwestern Pakistan, are among tens of thousands of families displaced by Pakistan’s war against militants in that region. They say the police officials who dealt with their daughter’s case treated them “like animals.”
“We hold the police responsible for her murder as they didn’t let us enter the police station when my sister went missing in the evening on May 15,” Qayum told Reuters.
Farishta’s father Nabi told the BBC that when he tried to report his daughter missing, police tasked him with carrying out chores for them around the police station for several days, including cleaning their offices and bringing them food for their dinner.
On Wednesday, a case of negligence was formally registered against several police officials, and the chief of the police station with jurisdiction in the case, Muhammad Abbas Rana, was suspended.
But Rana has defended his and his officers’ conduct, saying police had pursued the case and interviewed the family and neighbors on May 16.
Mohmand’s father alleges Rana had initially refused to register a case, telling him his daughter might have “eloped with someone of her own free will.” Rana denies this.
Social activist and lawyer Samar Minallah, who helped Mohmand’s family finally get a case report filed, said a change in “mindset” among police officers was the need of the hour.
“A misogynist police officer, instead of helping Farishta’s father, told him his daughter must have eloped with someone,” she said. “This mindset prevails everywhere in our society.”
On Thursday, Awan, the PM’s adviser on information, visited Mohmand’s family and assured them that justice would be served.
“PM Khan has declared the [police] system responsible for delay in justice to the family,” she told media after the visit. “To stop such incidents, we will have to remove lacunas in the laws.”
On Wednesday night, the spokesman for the Pakistani military said the army would “provide any support” to bring Mohmand’s murderers to justice.
“We must rise and join to protect our future generations from vile and despicable elements who prey on vulnerable children,” Major General Asif Ghafoor said in a Twitter post.

Ten-year-old’s murder, suspected rape fuel calls for police reform in Pakistan