Man in Pakistan throws children in canal for wife's remarriage protest

Lahore: A 40-year-old Pakistani father has allegedly thrown his three children, including two daughters, into a canal after his wife objected his proposal of getting remarried.

Mumtaz Ahmad - a resident of Thatta Kalason village, some 200 kilometres from Lahore - pushed his children into canal in Okara district of Punjab province on Saturday. While the two girls drowned, the son was rescued by the local people.

Mumtaz wanted to contract a second marriage but his first wife Sufian Bibi was not willing, police said, adding that the couple often quarrelled over the issue.

Ahmad, who had forced his wife to leave the house last week, picked up his children -- daughters Maria, 12, Munazza, 8 and son Ali -- on the pretext of visiting a fair in the village on Saturday.

"When Ahmad reached Lower Bari Doab Canal near GT Road he threw his children into the canal and fled," the FIR said. The passers-by who witnessed the incident jumped into the canal and managed to save his son while the daughters drowned.

The rescue teams have been trying to fish out the bodies of the two girls.

Sufian told police that her husband had threatened her to kill the children if she did not allow him to get married again. "Last week I left for my parents' home after he beat me but he did not allow me to take the children along," she said.

A case has been registered against the accused under section 302 and 201 of Pakistan Penal Code and efforts are on to arrest him, said Inspector Aziz Cheema.