Islamabad: The alleged rape of a five-year-old girl, in Pakistan’s second largest city of Lahore, has shocked the nation.

The victim — who is receiving treatment in a city hospital — was reported to be in a critical condition on Friday.

As the media focused on the horrific incident in the capital of the Punjab province, the city’s police said five suspects had been held for questioning amid an ongoing probe by two teams of investigators.

Punjab’s chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, ordered the police to quickly track down and arrest the culprits.

According to the reports, some unidentified men sexually assaulted the child and then dumped her in front of Ganga Ram Hospital in Lahore.

The girl, from a family of a government employee residing in Mughalpura neighbourhood in the old part of the historical city, reportedly went out of the house on Thursday evening. When she did not return the family approached the police.

The victim’s tearful father and grandmother, speaking on a private channel, appealed to the prime minister and chief justice of the country to ensure justice is done.