The mutilated body of a Hindu woman was found in Pakistan

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Islamabad, CNN Pakistan –

The mutilated body of a Hindu woman was found in a field Thursday in southeast Pakistan, Pakistani police said, as they investigated her alleged killing in the latest suspected attack against minorities in the Muslim-majority country.

The woman’s son, Sumar Chand, said he found her mutilated body after searching for his missing mother with some relatives, according to a police report seen by CNN. He claimed that her skin had been peeled off, her breast had been cut off, and her head had been split open with a blunt object.

Daya Bell, 40, disappeared Wednesday, according to Surinder Valasai, Pakistan’s assistant prime minister for human rights. Her son told police in Sindh province that his mother had gone to collect grass but never returned home, according to the police report.

Police in Sindh said they had made an unspecified number of arrests in connection with the case and set up a special team to investigate. They were unable to determine a motive for the alleged killing and did not release further details.

The Pakistan Women’s Democratic Front said it was “deeply concerned, saddened and shocked” to hear about the case.

“Our sister was mercilessly murdered, her body found tortured and mutilated, a few days ago, but there is a deafening silence in the corridors of power and in the mainstream media,” the group said. “The Women’s Democratic Front calls on all the women of the country, all of our sisters to come together to put an end to the reign of violence and oppression.”

Roughly 97% of Pakistan’s 270 million people are Muslim, according to the Pakistan Statistics Bureau, and minorities often face discrimination and persecution.

According to the US government’s 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom, gangs have targeted and killed Christians, Hindus, Ahmadi Muslims, and Shia Muslims in attacks believed to be religiously motivated or accusations of blasphemy. The report added that the Sunni majority were subjected to similar attacks in Shiite-majority areas.

Last December, a Sri Lankan working in Pakistan’s Punjab province was killed and then burned by a mob after being accused of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad.

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