Quetta : Baby born in Rickshaw! Feb 25 2010

According to news reports today on 25 February 2010 a pregnant woman in Quetta who was being taken in a rickshaw to a city hospital gave birth in the same rickshaw because the Airport Road was closed due to President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit. They were stopped at Askari Park section of the same road and despite their pleas with the security forces they were not allowed to continue their city-ward journey.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that a baby was born in a rickshaw. In May last year (2009) another poor woman was caught up in the traffic jam of Quetta and she had to give birth inside the ‘tiny’ rickshaw. No president, prime/chief minister or any foreign dignitary was visiting Quetta then, yet it happened. The only difference between the two situations is that the recent birth in a rickshaw was caused by the closure of a very important and busy Quetta Airport Road just because our president with his cavalcade of ministers and heavy contingent of security forces were to use that raod while the one who was born in May last year was due to badly traffic jam.

Lessons should be learnt from the embarrassing and life threatening ordeal of the concerned family and next time round when a major road is closed for any political figure’s safety then first by putting in place necessary emergency measures the safety of the ordinary people should be ensured.

Today, the security forces who were patrolling the Airport road should have used their common sense and compassion and helped her out in getting to the nearest hospital/clinic or any place where she could comfortably deliver the baby. The security forces are well equipped with modern communication system, at least they should have called an ambulance (there are now many in Quetta!). One can only regret recurrence of such incidents and hope there will not be a repeat of these kinds of scenarios in the future.

The Dawn.com’s news headline is incorrect when it says ‘Stuck in Quetta traffic jam …’. In this case there was no traffic jam but the road was crystal clear and completely deserted due to its closure – the rickshaw could have been driven at its maximum speed and in no time they would have been at the hospital. The bottom line is the security forces need to learn to distinguish between a bomb and a baby, and, mothers only carry babies.

Islamabad. Feb. 26. President Asif Ali Zardari has apologised about yesterday’s incident in Quetta when a baby girl was born in a rickshaw and has anounced Rs 500,000.00 for child’s well being. I hope the apology and the financial aid would help the family to look after their new born baby.