Child dies after eating poisoned sweet meant to cull dogs
Khalid Mehmood confessed in a court in Punjab that he had poisoned the sweets after his elder brother Tariq, who owned the sweet shop with him, "insulted and abused" him in a business dispute. PHOTO: FILE
A five-year-old girl died and her mother fell ill after eating poisoned sweets placed to kill stray dogs by the municipal administration in Sanghar on Saturday.
The girl, Kausar Pahnwar, picked up two poisoned sweets, eating one herself and handing the other to her mother. Both fell ill after consuming them and were taken to the civil hospital.
After providing first aid to both of them, the doctors referred them to Peoples Medical College Hospital, Nawabshah, for further treatment. However, the girl died before reaching the medical facility.
Meanwhile, the police arrested the municipal inspector, Anwar Nizamani, and said that they would take further action after the bereaved family approached them.
On Sunday, when the body was handed over to the family, they demanded that the police register a case against the municipal administrator and others responsible for the incident, staging a protest with the body outside the police station and later at the press club.
A delegation comprising Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Naveed Dero, deputy commissioner (DC) Imranul Hasan Khawaja, DSP Mehar Ali and SHO Ashok Kumar met the family and community members, but the were unable to come to a resolution.
The family maintained that if their demands were not approved, they would protest outside the sessions court in Sanghar with the body.
The Sanghar DC told the media that the police would investigate the matter and register a case against those responsible.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2020.