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A father allegedly shot his seven-day-old baby girl five times because he wanted his first-born to a be a boy.
Shahzaib Khan has been arrested following the incident on Monday (March 7) in the city of Mainwali, Pakistan.
He is accused of storming into his house and demanding his wife of two years hand over baby Jannat ('Heaven' in Urdu) before killing her.
He then fled the scene and was arrested today, police say.
Hidayatullah Khan, the girl's maternal uncle, launched the formal complaint against his brother-in-law.
He told Dawn: "A baby girl was born… he was infuriated.
"The suspect took the girl into his hands and shot her dead."
He also explained that Shahzaib refused to accept the baby as soon as he discovered it was a girl, with Monday's incident being the first time he had set foot back in the house since hearing the news.
Hidayatullah claimed he was at the scene and tried to grab the baby back from Shahzaib.
He alleged that Shahzaib threatened him and the rest of the family with the gun so that they didn't intervene.
In some parts of Pakistan female infanticide can occur as men consider themselves inferior for producing girls.
According to Faisal Edhi who heads the Edhi Welfare Organisation, a social welfare group in Pakistan, more than 500 dead babies have been dumped in the capital of Karachi in the past two years, with most being girls.
The tragic news has sparked backlash within Pakistan, with several taking to social media to vent their fury.
Tehseen Qasim wrote on Twitter: "This is beyond barbaric, brutal and vicious. The only solution to stop this brutality is hanging him publicly."
Misbah Munir posted: "I'm disgusted to the core. I feel terribly for the mother. Look at the beautiful daughter she had. Women lead the world, it's 2022."
The World Economic Forum's 2021 gender Gap Index, which measures gender parity in countries across the globe, ranks Pakistan fourth bottom globally.
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- Shooting
- Crime
- Murder
- babies
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