As the coronavirus cases and deaths are rising at an alarming rate in Pakistan, two lawmakers – one each from PML-N and PTI – died of the virus on Wednesday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Shaukat Manzoor Cheema of PML-N – a member of Punjab Assembly from Gujranwala – was on the ventilator for the past several days at a hospital in Lahore. Cheema, 66, was elected as MPA thrice in consecutive elections and also served as tehsil nazim once.

Earlier in the day, PTI MPA Mian Jamshed-ud-Din Kakakhel from Nowshera succumbed to COVID-19. He was 65.

Jamshed was on the ventilator for the last three days and passed away this morning. His son Mian Omar has recovered from coronavirus while other family members have tested negative.

He was first elected as MPA in 2013 on PTI ticket and became the Minister for Excise and Taxation. In the 2018 elections, he was elected from PK-63 Nowshera.

On Tuesday, Member National Assembly from Kurram, Munir Khan Orakzai passed away following a heart attack, only a few days after he ‘recovered’ from Covid-19.

So far, eight members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly have been infected with coronavirus which include Madiha Nisar, Kamran Bangash, Dr Amjad Ali, Bahadur Khan, Ziaullah Bangash, Shafiq Afridi and Inayatullah.

On the other hand, the National Assembly members from the province, who contracted Covid-19, are Gul Zafar Khan from NA-41 Bajaur, MNA Ali Wazir from NA-50 South Waziristan and Mehboob Shah from NA-6 Lower Dir.

A day earlier, Sindh Human Settlement Minister Ghulam Murtaza Baloch lost his life to the novel coronavirus; dealing a blow to the PPP as it lost a long-standing ‘jiyala’ to the deadly contagion. Baloch was 56.

Last month, PTI’s member of Punjab Assembly Shaheen Raza passed away two days after she had tested positive for coronavirus. Shaheen was the first lawmaker in Pakistan to succumb to the pandemic.