QUETTA A Pakistani woman gave birth to a baby girl in an auto-rickshaw stuck in a traffic jam when police closed roads to let President Asif Ali Zardaris motorcade drive by.

The woman was being driven to hospital in the city of Quetta on Thursday evening when police blocked roads for Zardari and his convoy to pass.

The woman's brother Mohammad Yaseen said the rickshaw he had hired to take his sister to the Civil Hospital was stopped by policemen near the Askari Park.

“We waited for around two hours. And despite repeated requests the policemen did not allow us to go to the hospital,” he told this correspondent.

“We pleaded with the policemen as it was an emergency but they refused citing orders that no one should be allowed to move until the president passed,” the brother told reporters.

“The baby was born in the rickshaw, surrounded by vehicles stuck in the traffic jam. At that time police officials allowed us to return,” he said.

Taking notice of the incident, Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

“Its outrageous. People suffer unduly whenever a top government official moves,” he said.

Both the mother and the baby, who had yet to be named, were doing well, he said.

Zardari was upset by the incident and had ordered an inquiry, the state-run APP news agency reported.

“Alternative routes must be provided to ensure that the people do not suffer,” APP cited him as saying.