(Karachi) The human rights ministry together with Prime Minister's Performance Delivery Unit (PMDU) launched the Zainab Alert app so citizens could report any children that go missing, media reported on Wednesday.

The Zainab Alert Bill and its associated app have been named after a six-year old girl called Zainab, who was raped and murdered in Kasur back in 2018.

The killing sparked outrage across Pakistan, with people demanding to hang the culprit. Zainab's murderer was hanged later that year.

In this regard, a ceremony was held in Islamabad which was attended by Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, Planning Minister Asad Umar and Zainab's father.

Speaking on the occasion, Mazari said that the past government had already begun work on an alert, which was named "mera bacha" (my child) on the prime minister's portal but it was never completed.

She said the Zainab Alert app has been integrated with district police officers throughout the country. In Punjab, it is linked to 36, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to 33, and in Sindh to 50 district police officers.

The human rights minister said that complaints registered with the app will prompt the police to launch an immediate probe into the matter. She said that the app has been designed so that making a fake alert is not possible.