President tenders apology over childbirth in rickshaw

QUETTA: President Asif Ali Zardari has extended his apology over the incident in which a pregnant woman delivered a baby boy in a rickshaw during traffic jam and closure of the road during the last leg of his visit to Quetta the other day.

Talking to this scribe here on Friday, President PPP Women Wing Balochistan, MPA Samina Raziq said President Zardari telephoned her and expressed an apology over the incident. She said the people of Quetta suffered due to him and vowed that it would not happen again.

Samina said the president announced a token amount of Rs 0.5 million for the family, which she later received, and would hand over to the family of Momin Khan, father of the child, today (Saturday).

Momin Khan, a labourer by profession, was on his way in a rickshaw along with his pregnant wife and mother from their home in Nawan Killi to the Civil Hospital on Thursday, when he was intercepted by the police near Askari Park on the Airport Road due to the VVIP moment and protocol of President Zardari. The rickshaw was forced to wait for more than three hours and the woman gave birth to a baby in the rickshaw. However, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani showed a non-serious approach on the issue.