KARACHI, Feb 9: Alleging that the police were taking no measures to arrest the culprits, the father of a minor gang-rape victim has urged the authorities to immediately bring the culprits to book.

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday, Idrees Soomro shared the horrific tale of his young daughter’s suffering. He said his family had been living in a camp set up for flood victims in the Labour Square, Gulshan-i-Maymar. On Feb 1 evening he sent his seven-year-old daughter to get some thing from a nearby shop. When she did not return for around an hour, the family got worried about her and went to the shop looking for her and he was informed by some children that she had gone with a man to a nearby house.

When he reached the house nobody was there and when he entered it, he was shocked to find his daughter lying unconscious with her clothes torn and blood spots all around. He brought her out and soon the Gulshan-i-Maymar police were called and, under pressure from the camp management, an FIR was registered against unknown persons.

The child victim was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where her wounds were stitched and she was admitted for a couple of days for treatment.

The young girl told the press that when she reached the shop the perpetrator, whom she knew, was sitting there and while she was waiting for her turn at the shop, he spoke to her and took her along to a nearby house. There another person, whom she did not know but could recognise if shown, was also present. She said she was gagged with her scarf and blindfolded. Then they attacked her and she felt pain and fell unconscious.

A resident of Dib Mohalla in Shahdadkot, Idrees Soomro was a flood victim and had fled to the city after his district was hit by the floods. He has been living in the camp, working as wage earner in the city to make both ends meet. He said the perpetrator was a resident of Mirpur Buriro in Jacobabad and he had also fled from the floods and had since been living in the camp. He had disappeared after committing the crime.

He demanded that the culprits be arrested, tried and punished sternly, according to the law, and immediately.