LAHORE: A Pakistani father accused of killing his week-old daughter by shooting her five times because he wanted his firstborn to be a boy has been arrested, police said Thursday.
In the deeply patriarchal country, a son is often believed to offer better financial security to parents than daughters, and girls and women face widespread violence.
Newborn Jannat Fatima was killed on Sunday in the city of Mianwali, in central Punjab province, sparking a manhunt for her father Shahzeb Khan, who was arrested on Wednesday night following a series of raids, according to Punjab police.
“The police were told by the complainants that the killer had been complaining for three or four days that he had wanted a son and he had been very angry,” Zarrar Khan, spokesman for Mianwali police told AFP.
“His wife also confirmed that he was angry about having a daughter and wanted a son.”
The incident came almost a month after a pregnant Pakistani woman was brought to a hospital with a nail hammered into her head after a faith healer said it would guarantee she gave birth to a boy.
The mother of three daughters said she was pregnant with another girl.
Pakistan police arrest father who shot newborn daughter 5 times
https://arab.news/p84kh
Pakistan police arrest father who shot newborn daughter 5 times
- Newborn Jannat Fatima was killed on Sunday in the city of Mianwali
- The father, Shahzeb Khan, was arrested on Wednesday night following a series of raids
Zelensky blasts EU's lack of political will against Putin
- Ukrainian president says he reached agreement with Trump around post-war US security guarantees for his country
- In a fiery speech, he slammed his main political backers in Europe over their 'inaction'
DAVOS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday blasted the EU’s lack of “political will” in countering Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in a fiery address criticizing some of Kyiv’s top allies at the World Economic Forum.
The speech to the Davos elite came minutes after Zelensky had met with US President Donald Trump, a conversation he said had brought agreement about what post-war US security guarantees for Ukraine would look like.
Zelensky did not say what they included, only that they were “done” and were ready to be signed by the leaders and ratified by the Ukrainian parliament and US Congress.
But in a marked departure from his usual warm rhetoric toward the European Union, Kyiv’s main political and financial backers, Zelensky slammed what he cast as inaction.
“What’s missing: time or political will?” he said at one point, referencing delays over the establishment of a European war crimes tribunal on the Russian invasion.
He also said Europe, without mentioning any single country, was failing to agree on how to address global problems.
“There are endless internal arguments and things left unsaid that stop Europe from uniting and speaking honestly enough to find real solutions,” Zelensky told the forum.
“Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” he added.
Fresh talks
“Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change,” said Zelensky.
“But he will not change. President Trump loves who he is, and he says he loves Europe, but he will not listen to this kind of Europe,” he said.
Trump had hailed a “good” meeting with Zelensky in the Swiss ski resort, hours before his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were due in Moscow for talks with Putin.
“This war has to end,” Trump told reporters including AFP when asked what message he was sending to the Russian leader.
Zelensky said the question of territory was the one outstanding issue in the talks to find an end to the war.
“It’s all about the eastern part of our country. It’s all about the land. This is the issue which we (have) not solved yet.”
He also said the United Arab Emirates would host “trilateral” talks on the Ukraine war Friday and Saturday with Ukrainian, US and Russian negotiators.
“It will be the first trilateral meeting in the Emirates,” said Zelensky, without elaborating on the format of the talks.
“Russians have to be ready for compromises,” he added.
Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal — but Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow.
