Police arrest father who shot newborn daughter 5 times

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 parents better financial security than daughters, and girls and women face widespread violence.

Newborn Jannat Fatima was killed on Sunday in the city of Mianwali in the central province of Punjab, prompting a manhunt for her father, Shahzeb Khan, who was arrested on Wednesday night following a series of raids, according to Punjab police.

“The complainants told the police that the killer had been complaining for three or four days that he wanted a child and that he was very angry,” Zarrar Khan, a Mianwali police spokesman, told AFP.

“His wife also confirmed that he was angry about having a daughter and wanted a son.”

The incident came nearly a month after a pregnant Pakistani woman was taken to a hospital with a nail hammered into her head after a witch doctor said he would guarantee she would give birth to a boy.

The mother of three daughters said she was pregnant with another girl.

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