LAHORE: A candlelight vigil was arranged by local organizations in solidarity with the family of seven-year-old Zainab, on Friday.
Pakistan Global Initiative for Law and Justice and Mere Loug arranged the vigil and placed flowers around a make-shift monument outside the Lahore Press Club.
A large number of students, members of the civil society, lawyers and people from different walks of life took part in the ceremony. The participants had been holding the picture of Zainab and placards inscribed with slogan “JusticeForZainab” and “Stop Rape”. They strongly condemned the killers.
“Barbaric incident of Kasur has made us ashamed,” said Makhdoom Wasim Qureshi who was leading the vigil.
“Rape with children is terrorism,” he said while urging the parliamentarians to make special laws for the protection of the children. He also demanded a National Action Plan-like strategy for their safety.
Mere Loug’s founders Saqib Rasheed and Waseela Zahra also spoke on the occasion.
“People need awareness on sexual harassment [paedophilia],” said Syeda Waseela Zahra. “Child abuse is a grave issue; alas, the politicians just keep on playing a blame game,” she further stated.
“We want justice for Zainab,” she demanded, saying that “now no one could silence us”. They urged the people to come out of their homes and play their role for rights and protection of the children.
On Wednesday, two people were killed and six others were injured by police firing during furious protests in Kasur against the gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, prompting the chief justice of the Supreme Court to take notice of the incident that has outraged citizens across the country.
The city’s business community, legal fraternity and activists of religious parties announced a shutter-down strike in the city to protest the police’s failure to arrest the culprits responsible for the abduction, rape and murder of Zainab, 8, whose dead body was found from a garbage heap on Tuesday, five days after she went missing.