KARACHI — A newborn baby was found dead on the pavement Tuesday morning after allegedly being thrown from a high-rise residential building in the city’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar area.
Police reached the site shortly after residents reported the discovery of the infant’s body near the base of the apartment block. Initial investigations suggest the baby was alive when dropped from one of the higher floors, though investigators are waiting for a final post-mortem report to confirm the cause of death and the exact time of the incident.
The discovery has sent shockwaves through the neighborhood. Local police have cordoned off the area and are currently reviewing CCTV footage from the building’s entrance and surrounding streets. Officers are also questioning security staff and residents to identify who may have had access to the upper floors during the early hours of the morning.
“We are treating this as a homicide,” said a senior police official at the scene. “Right now, we are focused on identifying the parents. We are checking records of all families living in the building and looking for anyone who may have recently been pregnant.”
Authorities have yet to make an arrest. The body of the infant has been moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a medico-legal examination.
Incidents of abandoned or harmed newborns in Karachi’s densely populated areas remain a recurring tragedy, often tied to social stigma or lack of access to medical and social support systems. While police have launched a formal investigation, the lack of immediate witnesses in the high-rise complex presents a significant challenge for detectives.
For now, the building remains under watch as investigators work to determine whether the act was a desperate attempt at concealment or a targeted crime. The police expect to have more clarity once the forensic analysis of the scene and the post-mortem results are filed later this week.
