A man has been arrested by the police in Pakistan's Punjab province for allegedly murdering his wife and seven minor children, police said on Thursday.
According to the police, the accused was working as a labourer by profession and was mentally disturbed due to his meagre financial conditions and often had quarrels with his wife.
The accused, identified as Sajjad Khokhar, allegedly attacked his wife Kausar (42) and seven children -- four daughters and three sons, aged between eight months and 10 years -- with an axe, killing them on the spot in Alipur, Muzaffargarh district of Pakistan, news agency PTI reported.
During questioning, he confessed to his crime, claiming that he had taken this extreme step as he could not feed his children any more, the police said.
Taking cognisance of the incident, the state Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz expressed her grief over the incident and sought a report from the Inspector General of Police.
Notably, Pakistan has been undergoing a serious financial crisis.
Last month, Pakistan and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement on the second and last review of the $3 billion stand-by arrangement, which, if cleared by the global lender's board, will release about $1.1 billion to the struggling South Asian nation.
(With PTI Inputs)
Published By:
Sudeep Lavania
Published On:
Apr 12, 2024
English (US) ·