‘Attack’ kills maid, eight

POLICE have arrested a Pakistani businessman and his wife who are suspected of beating to death their eight-year-old maid after she inadvertently opened a cage to feed the couple’s parrots and the birds flew away, an officer said.

Police in Rawalpindi said the man – who employed the girl for 3,000 rupees (about £15) a month – got so angry he beat the maid with his wife’s help after the parrots flew away. The man took the injured girl to a hospital, but he fled after realising she may have died, police said.

The girl’s death has drawn nationwide condemnation on social media, with ordinary citizens, politicians and human rights activists alike demanding justice for the victim.