ISLAMABAD: Pakistani police say they have arrested a man on accusation of burying his newborn daughter alive because she was physically deformed.    

Mohammed Anwar, who is a police officer in the city of Khanewal in the eastern Punjab province, says the child was born Thursday at a local hospital.

On seeing his daughter, the father told relatives that the baby was born dead and organized a funeral service, says Shamshad Khalid, who is another police officer.

The child started crying during the service and the presiding cleric told the father to take the girl to the hospital.

Instead, police said on Saturday, the man buried her. Residents alerted the authorities after seeing the father taking the baby to the graveyard.