Pakistan police on Thursday arrested a man suspected of shooting dead his seven-day-old baby girl because he wanted his first-born to be a boy, a case that has triggered an outpouring of public anger.

The baby named Jannat, which means heaven in Urdu, was shot multiple times on Monday, said police in the central city of Mianwali. In some parts of Pakistan tribal customs mean that baby girls can be considered an insult to manhood.

The suspect was arrested in a nearby district, police officer Inam-ur-Rehman said in a statement.

Human rights groups say girls and women face regular violence for a variety of reasons in Pakistan, which sits three spots above the bottom of the World Economic Forum's 2021 gender Gap Index.

Reuters