GILGIT: The killing of eight-year-old boy student after alleged sexual assault sparked a big protest in Gilgit city on Thursday.

A large number of boy and girl students from different schools in Gilgit, classmates of the victim, traders and workers of political and religious parties of the region held a protest demonstration at Hunza Chowk by blocking the main road of the city. They chanted slogans against the killing of class-I student allegedly by three teenagers on Sunday last and demanded strict action against those who committed the crime.

The students demanded an exemplary punishment to killers of the minor boy to avoid occurrence of such incidents in future. Addressing the protesters, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Habibur Rahman, PTI Gilgit president Farooq Ahmed, MQM’s Hussain Shah and PML-N’s Shahida Akhlaq demanded a fair trial of the case and punishment to killers.

Later, the protesters marched toward the Supreme Appellate Court where lawyers also joined the protest. Speaking on the occasion, Supreme Appellate Court Bar Association GB president Ehsan Ali said that the killing of minor student in Gilgit was a shameful act.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2014