TheCable

Irshad Ahmed, a Pakistani man murdered four of his daughters between the ages of four years and seven years in the central province of Punjab, on Sunday.

His wife had taken their two other children to a wedding in a neighbouring town and left the four girls with their father.

When she returned the next day she found them dead in bed, while Ahmed had fled.

Ghulam Shabir, a local police officer, told journalists that the incident occurred in Chak Jumra town, around 215 kilometres (135 miles) northwest of Lahore.

“A resident strangled his four daughters, two sets of twins, late Sunday night,” he said, adding that “The father was on anti-depressants.”

Zaheer Ahmed, the investigating officer, said there were rope marks on the girls’ necks.

In Pakistan’s conservative patriarchal society daughters are often considered a burden.