Father in Pakistan 'strangled baby daughter to death' because he wanted a son

Sher Alam from Kasur accused of killing and burying baby just hours after birth

(AFP/Getty Images)

A father from Pakistan allegedly strangled his newborn baby girl to death because he had wanted to have a son and was “furious” his wish had not been fulfilled.

Sher Alam from Herjoki village in Kasur, east Pakistan, stands accused of killing the child a few hours after she was born before burying her in the courtyard of his home.

Police in Punjab were alerted to the incident by his wife Shamim Bibi, who gave birth to the baby girl on Saturday night at a maternity centre alongside her sister and brother-in-law.

In her written statement, Mrs Bibi said: “Soon after I came back home with the baby girl, my husband Sher Alam became furious, snatched her from my hands and strangled her to death.”

“He told me that he didn’t want a girl and I replied that it was the will of Allah not ours.”

She told officers Mr Alam had then gone into the couple’s back garden, dug a makeshift grave in the undergrowth and buried his daughter “without remorse” in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mrs Bibi also alleged her husband had threatened to kill her if she told anyone else about the incident, according to Daily Pakistan.

Mr Alam, a kiln worker in the nearby city of Chunian, was arrested shortly after and taken into custody according to police.

Meanwhile the newborn child’s body was exhumed from its grave in the courtyard, before being reburied in a more adequate location.

In 2011, a relief agency named female infanticide as "Pakistan's worst unfolding tragedy" and that of 10 newborns thrown into the dumps of Karachi, nine are female.

The number of children killed has risen steadily over the past five years, welfare organizations in Pakistan have confirmed.