Fury in Pakistan after father 'shoots dead his seven-day-old baby girl because he wanted his first-born to be a boy'

 A Pakistani father has been arrested on suspicion of shooting dead his seven-day-old baby girl because he wanted his first-born to be a boy in a case that has sparked fury in Pakistan.

The newborn baby named Jannat - meaning 'heaven' in Urdu - was shot five times on Monday at her home in the central city of Mianwali, police said.The suspect, identified as Shahzaib Khan, allegedly entered his house and ordered his wife to hand over Jannat before shooting dead the week-old baby, reported Dawn newspaper.

Shahzaib, who has been married for two years, then fled the scene but was arrested on Thursday in a nearby district, police said.    

The suspect, identified as Shahzaib Khan, allegedly entered his house and ordered his wife to hand over Jannat before shooting dead the week-old baby. He was arrested on Thursday by Pakistani police (pictured)

In some parts of Pakistan tribal customs mean that baby girls can be considered an insult to manhood.

The girl's maternal uncle, Hidayatullah Khan, launched a formal complaint against the suspect for the killing.

'A baby girl was born...he was infuriated,' Hidayatullah said, referring to the father.

The devastated relative said Shahzaib had not returned to the family home after discovering his wife had given birth to a baby girl and refused to accept her. 

Hidayatullah said the suspect entered the family home where relatives had gathered and ordered his wife to hand over Jannat to him.

'The suspect took the girl into his hands and shot her dead,' he told Dawn.  

Hidayatullah claimed that he had tried to take the baby away from Shahzaib but the suspect had pointed the gun at him and the other relatives and threatened to shoot them if they moved closer.   

The case sparked fury in Pakistan, with the public condemning the 'brutal' death of the newborn baby. 

'This is beyond barbaric,, brutal and vicious. The only solution to stop this brutality is hanging him publicly,' Tehseen Qasim wrote on Twitter. 

'I'm disgusted to the core. I feel terribly for the mother. Look at the beautiful daughter she had. Women lead the world, it's 2022,' wrote Misbah Munir, another Twitter user.

Human rights groups say girls and women face regular violence for a variety of reasons in Pakistan, which sits three spots above the bottom of the World Economic Forum's 2021 gender Gap Index.   

People participate in 'Aurat March' or 'Women's March', to mark International Women's Day in Karachi, Pakistan, March 8

Faisal Edhi, who heads the largest social welfare charity group in Pakistan's largest city Karachi, reported that over 500 bodies of infants were found dumped over the past two years. Most were girls. 

There have been a number of high-profile cases in recent years of fathers killing their daughters in Pakistan because they consider them a burden.

In 2015, Irshad Ahmed killed his three young daughters, twins Chashman and Aman aged seven and a five-year-old Fiza, after encouraging his wife Shabana Naz to attend a wedding with their only son. 

Shabana only took one of her daughters, the youngest aged two, after refusing to leave her behind at their home in Chak Jumra town, around 135 miles northwest of Lahore.

When she returned from the wedding, Shabana discovered the bodies of the three little girls lying in the bed - and their father gone. 

Shabana said Ahmed had believed his daughters to be worthless, claiming they would mean the family would 'die of hunger'. 

In 2013, Umar Zaib, 28, was arrested in Pakistan for drowning his 18-month-old daughter because he had wanted a son instead.  kuhiuZh