Tragedy as Imran Farooq's widow diagnosed with cancer

LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s slain founding leader Dr Imran Farooq’s widow, Shumaila Imran Farooq has been diagnosed with a life threatening condition of cancer.

Related: What happened to Imran Farooq’s widow?

Geo News has learnt from a credible source at the Guy’s Hospital that Shumaila Imran Farooq has Stage 2 mouth cancer - which was diagnosed recently. Doctors at the Guy’s Hospital have recommended immediate treatment for fear of cancer spreading to other parts of her body but the former MQM Sindh Assembly lawmaker on reserved women seat has not been able to avail herself of treatment due to severe financial difficulties and lack of support with respect to care of her sons, Alishaan and Wejdaan.

This is yet another devastating blow to Shumaila Farooq, who has had to endure the injustice of her husband’s cruel political murder, with no signs of any justice being mooted out any time soon.

The diagnosis of cancer comes to Shumaila Farooq on the ninth murder anniversary of Imran Farooq, the former formidable MQM leader, who once ran the powerful machine of the ethnic party with its founder and leader Altaf Hussain.

The source at the Guy’s Hospital, part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, said that Shumaila has a large cancer formation on the left jaw and needs urgent surgery to treat the affected area which will necessitate a stay in the hospital for up to two months.

The source said that Shumaila’s surgery would be followed by at least 8 weeks of radiotherapy, at the Neck and Clinic Unit of the hospital. The source added: “She will need at least 6 months for post-operative treatment. The notes on her diagnosis state that her condition is critical and cancer could spread in her body. God forbid, that could be fatal, if that happens.”

Shumaila Farooq had a serious accident in December 2016 when she had a fall and a metal utensil ripped apart her jaw and other vital organs. She has still not recovered from these injuries and has not been able to eat for three years - living on just a liquid diet. 

She had been unable to afford reconstructive surgery to replace her jawbone and teeth and heal her hips and legs in order for her to regain some normality to her life as she has the responsibility of two young children. She was admitted then for treatment in the same hospital for a month, in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The MQM had denied initially that she fell down and was not being looked after by the party but some of its leaders from the London office took pictures with her at the hospital bed and posted on social media. Shumaila Farooq has not been able to recover from her fall of three years ago and she is still not able to walk without support.

Guy’s Hospital is located near the London Bridge station. Some of the country’s top cancer surgeons practice at its clinics. Shumaila Imran Farooq has not been well after her husband’s killing nine years ago in Edgware and her fall in 2016 was linked to the depression and trauma she has continued to face. To make matters, she has faced serious financial constraints and no one in the MQM factions – MQM London, MQM Pakistan or PSP – to look after her.

Her cancer diagnosis three years later suggests that she has not recovered from the fatal fall of December 2016 and the cancer is likely to be as a result of her previous injuries, which have largely been left untreated.

Only a few days ago, Geo News revealed in a major investigation that Dr Imran Farooq’s widow is living in extreme poverty with her two sons in Edgware in a derelict building, above a mechanic shop.

This correspondent had met Shumaila Farooq outside a clinic in Central London where she walked with help from her sons and crutches but declined to answer questions.

It seemed clear at that time that Shumaila Farooq is partially paralyzed but it was not known even to her that she is a cancer patient and may not have a long time to live.

In this new fatefully tragic twist, Shumaila Farooq has been left in a situation where she has nobody to care for her children if she takes the treatment. If she does not take the treatment, there may be nobody left to care for her children.

The real tragedy is that she and her sons are the victims of terrorism who have had to endure grief, poverty and denial of justice alone and yet society has turned a blind eye to their non-stop tragedy.