LAHORE / QUETTA: Two lawmakers — one from the Punjab Assembly and the other from the Balochistan Assembly — died of Covid-19 on Wednesday.

They were identified as Shaheen Raza, who was a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) member of the Punjab Assembly, and Syed Fazal Agha, who was a member of the Balochistan Assembly from Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl)

Ms Raza died at the Mayo Hospital in Lahore. She was 68. Mr Agha passed away at Aga Khan Hospital, Karachi. He was 74.

The two became first senior politicians to have died from coronavirus in Pakistan.

Ms Raza had been on a ventilator in the intensive care unit of the Mayo Hospital since she was brought there from Gujranwala three days ago.

“She was put on the ventilator due to her critical condition because she was suffering from multiple health issues,” Professor Asad Aslam, chief executive of the Mayo Hospital, told Dawn.

He said when Ms Raza was brought from the Gujranwala Civil Hospital, her lungs had almost been damaged and she was experiencing serious breathing problems.

Prof Aslam said the MPA had participated in a door-to-door ration distribution campaign in Gujranwala recently and had remained in close contact with people during the pandemic peak.

He said Gujranwala was among top five districts of Punjab reporting most confirmed cases besides having high death rate from Covid-19.

Prof Aslam said the MPA was shifted to the Gujranwala hospital too late and it was a common complaint that the patients testing positive for the virus were taken to the hospitals at almost terminal stage of the disease.

Shaheen Raza was elected to the Punjab Assembly on a seat reserved for women.

She was laid to rest in her native graveyard in Gujranwala with the observance of coronavirus-related standard operating procedures.

Deputy Commissioner Sohail Ashraf and a few members of her family attended her funeral.

President Dr Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and several parliamentarians have offered condolences to her family.

“Fazal Agha passed away in Aga Khan Hospital, Karachi, due to coronavirus this evening,” a family member said.

Fazal Agha been reported positive for coronavirus last week and had quarantined himself at his residence in Pishin. He was shifted to Aga Khan Hospital, Karachi, three days ago after his condition deteriorated.

During the second term of the PML-N government, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif appointed Mr Agha as governor of Balochistan and he served on the post from 1997 to 1999.

Fazal Agha contested the provincial assembly election in 2008 on a ticket of the PML-N from Pishin, but lost. However, before 2018 elections he quit the PML-N and joined the JUI-F and took part in the elections to become a member of the Balochistan Assembly.

He was born in Killi Huramzai of Pishin district in 1946. His body will be brought to his native village and buried there on Thursday (today).

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2020