KARACHI: The rape and murder of a young girl in Pakistan has sparked calls for #JusticeforZainab around the world, amid anger over a spate of unresolved child sex crimes in the conservative nation.
Police recovered the body of Zainab Ansari, aged about 7, on Tuesday from a garbage dumpster in the town of Kasur in eastern Pakistan, four days after she was reported missing.
Pakistani Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan were among the celebrities using the hashtag, which is trending on Twitter.
“This has to stop,” tweeted a “heartbroken” Yousafzai, an outspoken campaigner for girls’ rights in her homeland.
“Authorities must take action.”
A 2011 Thomson Reuters Foundation poll found Pakistan to be the world’s third most dangerous country for women, due to acid attacks, child marriage and punishment by stoning.
Ansari was the twelfth girl to be abducted, raped and killed in the past year in Kasur district, police said.
“This is not the first time such horrific acts have happened,” said Khan. “We have to act swiftly to punish the guilty and ensure that our children are better protected.”
Two civilians were killed on Wednesday when officers fired to disperse crowds that attacked a police station in Kasur. The police deny they have been lax in investigating child abductions in the town.
Actresses Mahira Khan and Sanam Saeed were among those who demonstrated in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, on Thursday.
“We need to start talking about sexual abuse openly,” said Khan, one of Pakistan’s most popular actresses.
“We need to include that in our school curriculums. Awareness is key. Associating abuse and rape with shame is why countless (attacks) go unheard of. Stop with the shame.”
Sexual abuse is on the rise in Pakistan, with more than 4,000 cases reported in 2016, up 10 percent on the previous year, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says.
Pakistan tightened its legislation to protect children in 2016 — criminalizing sexual assault, child pornography and trafficking for the first time — after a paedophile ring, circulating pornographic videos, was exposed in Kasur.
Previously, only rape was criminalized.
Several police officials were transferred following the 2015 scandal, where a prominent family allegedly used guns and knives to force young children to perform sex acts on video.
Mamtaz Gohar, a spokesman for Sahil, which campaigns against child sexual abuse, said not enough has been done to secure justice for an estimated 280 children abused in the case.
“Almost all of the criminals have been released on bail. The justice system and the police investigation is really skewed in our country,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Many villagers in Pakistan prefer to use local elders to dispense justice, rather than the often-cumbersome and corrupt formal legal system.
“Ask one institution, they blame the other. The police will blame the judges, the judges will point fingers at the public prosecutor,” said Maliha Zia Lari, a human rights lawyer, calling for better training of investigators.
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Celebrities call for #JusticeforZainab to end girls’ rape and murder in Pakistan
Celebrities call for #JusticeforZainab to end girls’ rape and murder in Pakistan
Peru Congress to debate impeachment of interim president
LIMA: Peru’s Congress is set to consider Tuesday whether to impeach interim president Jose Jeri, the country’s seventh head of state in 10 years, accused of the irregular hiring of several women in his government.
A motion to oust Jeri, 39, received the backing of dozens of lawmakers on claims of influence peddling, the latest of a series of impeachment bids against him.
The session, set for 10:00 am local time (1500 GMT), is expected to last several hours.
Jeri, in office since October, took over from unpopular leader Dina Boluarte who was ousted by lawmakers amid protests against corruption and a wave of violence linked to organized crime.
Prosecutors said Friday they were opening an investigation into “whether the head of state exercised undue influence” in the government appointments of nine women on his watch.
On Sunday, Jeri told Peruvian TV: “I have not committed any crime.”
Jeri, a onetime leader of Congress himself, was appointed to serve out the remainder of Boluarte’s term, which runs until July, when a new president will take over following elections on April 12.
He is constitutionally barred from seeking election in April.
The alleged improper appointments were revealed by investigative TV program Cuarto Poder, which said five women were given jobs in the president’s office and the environment ministry after visiting with Jeri.
Prosecutors spoke of a total of nine women.
Jeri is also under investigation for alleged “illegal sponsorship of interests” following a secret meeting with a Chinese businessman with commercial ties with the government.
- Institutional crisis -
The speed with which the censure process is being handled has been attributed by some political observers as linked to the upcoming presidential election, which has over 30 candidates tossing their hat into the ring, a record.
The candidate from the right-wing Popular Renewal party, Rafael Lopez Aliaga, who currently leads in polls, has been among the most vocal for Jeri’s ouster.
If successfully impeached, Jeri would cease to exercise his functions and be replaced by the head of parliament as interim president.
But first a new parliamentary president would have to be elected, as the incumbent is acting in an interim capacity.
“It will be difficult to find a replacement with political legitimacy in the current Congress, with evidence of mediocrity and strong suspicion of widespread corruption,” political analyst Augusto Alvarez told AFP.
Peru is experiencing a prolonged political crisis, which has seen it burn through six presidents since 2016, several of them impeached or under investigation for wrongdoing.
It is also gripped by a wave of extortion that has claimed dozens of lives, particularly of bus drivers — some shot at the wheel if their companies refuse to pay protection money.
In two years, the number of extortion cases reported in Peru jumped more than tenfold — from 2,396 to over 25,000 in 2025.
A motion to oust Jeri, 39, received the backing of dozens of lawmakers on claims of influence peddling, the latest of a series of impeachment bids against him.
The session, set for 10:00 am local time (1500 GMT), is expected to last several hours.
Jeri, in office since October, took over from unpopular leader Dina Boluarte who was ousted by lawmakers amid protests against corruption and a wave of violence linked to organized crime.
Prosecutors said Friday they were opening an investigation into “whether the head of state exercised undue influence” in the government appointments of nine women on his watch.
On Sunday, Jeri told Peruvian TV: “I have not committed any crime.”
Jeri, a onetime leader of Congress himself, was appointed to serve out the remainder of Boluarte’s term, which runs until July, when a new president will take over following elections on April 12.
He is constitutionally barred from seeking election in April.
The alleged improper appointments were revealed by investigative TV program Cuarto Poder, which said five women were given jobs in the president’s office and the environment ministry after visiting with Jeri.
Prosecutors spoke of a total of nine women.
Jeri is also under investigation for alleged “illegal sponsorship of interests” following a secret meeting with a Chinese businessman with commercial ties with the government.
- Institutional crisis -
The speed with which the censure process is being handled has been attributed by some political observers as linked to the upcoming presidential election, which has over 30 candidates tossing their hat into the ring, a record.
The candidate from the right-wing Popular Renewal party, Rafael Lopez Aliaga, who currently leads in polls, has been among the most vocal for Jeri’s ouster.
If successfully impeached, Jeri would cease to exercise his functions and be replaced by the head of parliament as interim president.
But first a new parliamentary president would have to be elected, as the incumbent is acting in an interim capacity.
“It will be difficult to find a replacement with political legitimacy in the current Congress, with evidence of mediocrity and strong suspicion of widespread corruption,” political analyst Augusto Alvarez told AFP.
Peru is experiencing a prolonged political crisis, which has seen it burn through six presidents since 2016, several of them impeached or under investigation for wrongdoing.
It is also gripped by a wave of extortion that has claimed dozens of lives, particularly of bus drivers — some shot at the wheel if their companies refuse to pay protection money.
In two years, the number of extortion cases reported in Peru jumped more than tenfold — from 2,396 to over 25,000 in 2025.
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