HARIPUR — The body of five-year-old Ayat Noor was recovered from a well at a warehouse on University Road after 2 weeks search that started when the child left her home to play and never returned.
Police said the girl was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered before her body was thrown into the well. Three suspects were detained during the intensive search operation. One of them allegedly confessed before a judge to sexually assaulting the child.
Two of the suspects are currently in jail, while the third remains in police custody as the investigation continues.
Authorities have not yet released further details on the motive or the exact timeline of events. The case has drawn significant local attention amid growing concerns over child safety in the area.
Pakistan witnessed several tragic cases of young children being abducted, sexually assaulted or raped, and murdered. In June, a three-year-old girl in Karachi’s Quaidabad was found dead in a gunny bag near her home after going out to play, with post-mortem results indicating violent rape.
Around the same time in Sargodha, a seven-year-old girl was raped and killed inside a grocery store, her body later recovered from the upper floor. In July, a six-year-old boy in Karachi was raped and murdered by a neighbour who confessed and disposed of the body by throwing it from a building.
Earlier this month, an 18-month-old girl in Karachi was allegedly raped and murdered by a teenage relative, while a 10-year-old boy in Faisalabad was abducted, assaulted and killed after going out to buy ice, and a nine-year-old girl elsewhere in Punjab was kidnapped, gang-raped and murdered.
Pakistan recorded 3,606 cases of child abduction and rape in 2025 alone, showing ongoing severity of this menace.
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