Two girls died at a hospital on Wednesday after their mother tried to kill them and herself on Tuesday allegedly for being forced by her husband to take up prostitution.
The Kot Sultan station house officer (SHO) told The Express Tribune that 35-year-old *Safia, a resident of Khokharabad, poisoned her two daughters, Shaheen, 4, and Muqaddas, 6, and then swallowed poison herself.
“They were taken to tehsil headquarters hospital by neighbours,” he said.
Dr Shahid Iqbal at the hospital told The Express Tribune on Wednesday that Shaheen, who was critical, was being treated at the intensive care unit at the district headquarters hospital.
He said Safia and Muqaddas had been stable when Safia’s husband took her and Muqaddas away without informing the staff.
The SHO said Muqaddas died on Wednesday morning after her condition deteriorated. He said Safia’s condition had also deteriorated. “She was taken to district headquarters hospital in Layyah where her condition was later reported to be critical.”
He said Shaheen died at the district headquarters hospital on Wednesday morning.
Safia told the police that her husband, Muhammad Yameen, was a drug addict. She said he used to beat her up and frequently pressured her to take up prostitution.
“I feared that he would force my daughters into prostitution… I killed them in order to protect them,” she said.
Safia said she had worked at a farm but her wage was not enough to support her husband and their children. She said she had been without a meal for three days when she attempted to kill her children and herself on Tuesday.
Her neighbours told the police that Yameen and Safia had quarreled frequently.
Layyah Deputy Police Superintendent Rao Farooq told The Express Tribune that police were interrogating the doctors and paramedical staff at the hospital.
He said Yameen had kicked Safia out after they quarrelled on Tuesday, according to an initial inquiry.
*Names have been changed to protect identities
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2014.