There’s nothing new about newborn girls going missing in Pakistan. Scores of abandoned babies (seven girls for every boy) left in white metal Edhi cradles speak volumes about societal preference. The more unfortunate ones either get tossed in the nearby trash dumps or are conveniently buried elsewhere. But it may be one thing to count bodies, shed bitter tears at how the Jahiliya of pagan Makkah are alive and kicking in today’s Pakistan, only to go on with life as usual. What transpired in Mianwali, however, has shocked even a society as callous as ours, which has finally decided to step above its routine immunity to crimes against female children. No mother should be forced to bear the horrifying trauma of her husband pumping not one, not two but four bullets into the body of their seven-day-old daughter. And no amount of hashtags or emotional campaigns by Pakistani fathers can help bring back that little angel. The hue and cry can however help strike a chord with the government departments whose radar is notorious for skipping such heart-wrenching instances. Simply making headlines over self-acclaimed zero tolerance would not do the trick this time and the police needs to ensure that the law takes its course. The apprehended should be put behind bars and made to serve the maximum possible time there to pay for the deplorable murder. More crucial remains the need to tug at the strings of our repressive mentality that still sees daughters as bad fortune. The disturbingly skewed population statistics–105 males for every 100 Pakistani women–do not sit well with the situation in other countries. Quite interestingly, neither the state nor its people have the slightest of concern for how their nation is supposed to grow without its females? The frenzied obsession for a male heir, who could carry the familial legacy ahead, no matter how many daughters, second (third or fourth) marriages and endless trips to fake pirs it takes, has become a national sport. And if all else fails, one could always kill the girl children because, in all seriousness, who would care? *