R AWALPINDI: The body of a five-year-old girl, who was allegedly strangled by her mother, was found outside the nursery lavatory at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) on Wednesday.

Nimra Saeed was found dead in the hospital`s nursery ward, and her mother, Sanam Irshad who had been staying at the hospital with her newborn twins is missing from the hospital.

Ms Irshad did not leave a note for her husband, who said: `She was in stable conditionafter the birth of the twins at Sohawa hospital, but had been worried about their health since they were shifted to the hospital nursery.

Saeed Asghar, a resident of Gujar Khan, told Dawn that his wife gave birth to twins on Jan 14, and following doctors` advice, their newborn babies were shifted to the BBH nursery that night.

He said that after another three days, BBH doctors asked him to bring his wife to stay at the hospital, at which point he brought both Ms Irshad and Nimra.

Mr Asghar said he brought tea and breakfast for his wife and his mother who was also staying at the hospital at 7am on Wednesday, and found that his wife and daughter were missing from their room.

`I couldn`t find my wife and daughter despite searching for them in and around the hospital wards. But as I reached the `out` gate of the hospital, I received a phone call fromone of my neighbours, who had also been staying at the hospital and knew my family, who told me that my daughter Nimra had been killed,` he said.

He said he hurried back to the nursery and found his daughter on the floor, with a dupatta tied around her neck.

BBH medical superintendent Dr Asif Qadir Mir told Dawn that shortly after the child was found, she was shifted to the emergency ward where doctors tried to revive her, but she had already died.

He said an inquiry committee had been constituted to ascertain the circumstances around the child`s death. He said the cause of death could only be determined after a postmortem, but that it seemed she had been strangled.

Dr Mir said: `Before the mother and her daughter left the ward, both took breakfast served by the hospital administration. Until the girl`s mother is found, it would be tooearly to say about the killing.

He said the child`s mother did not leave a note or express any distress to her husband.

However police, quoting other women who had been staying with her, said Ms Irshad had been in distress the previous night and had been crying over the twins` critical condition.

`She was fastening her girl`s head with her dupatta repeatedly and saying she was too sick and had a headache, even though she was normal and didn`t have a fever,` the investigating officer quoting her roommates as saying.

After the child was pronounced dead, the body was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital for a postmortem, and later handed over to her father.

`I brought my daughter up in poverty, and now my twins are struggling for their lives alone in the hospital,` Mr Asghar said.