LAYYAH: Two minor children died of consuming pesticide in Layyah hospitals on Wednesday which was given to them by their mother.

The woman, of Paharpur, who also consumed the poisonous liquid to end her own life, was saved by the doctors of District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital.

A 35-year-old resident of Basti Tibbi Sharif of Paharpur, 35 kilometres from Layyah city, Balqees Bibi told Dawn in the hospital that she was married to Muhammad Amin nine years ago. The couple had a son and two daughters. Her husband was a labourer at the time of marriage but later he fell prey to drug addiction.

Due to Amin’s unemployment and addiction, the family had been living in extreme poverty.

She alleged Amin would pester her to become a sex worker to meet the routine expenditures. On her refusal, Amin would thrash her.

On Wednesday, Amin slapped her after an exchange of words. Fed up with violence and poverty, she said, she drank pesticide and forced her daughters -- four-year-old Ishrat Bibi and two-year-old Muqaddas Bibi – to consume it. Their six-year-old son, Amir Hamza, was at school at the time of the incident.

The three were rushed to Kot Sultan Tehsil Headquarters Hospital where Ishrat breathed her last. Balqees and Muqaddas were shifted to Layyah DHQ Hospital due to their critical condition where Muqaddas died while Balqees was out of danger.

She said she had no regret on her brutal act as had they been alive, their father would have pushed their daughters into prostitution.

On the complaint of Kot Sultan Station House Officer Rab Nawaz, police registered a case under Section 302/325 of the Pakistan Penal Code against Balqees and took her into custody at the hospital.