Gunmen kill cop escorting polio workers in KP

PESHAWAR: Gunmen riding on a motorcycle shot and killed a policeman in Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Tuesday as he escorted a team of polio workers.

The attack came on the second day of a nationwide anti-polio vaccination campaign that authorities launched on Monday in an effort to eradicate the crippling disease by the end of the year.

The polio workers on the team in Karak escaped unharmed, according to local police officer Irfan Khan. A search for the attackers who fled the scene was underway, he added. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

KP Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sanaullah Abbasi also took notice of the incident and said that the official’s killers will be caught soon. He further said that security was being provided to polio workers and added: “The martyrdom of police [official] is proof that security is being provided.”

Abbasi said that there are “some people” who were against polio vaccination but added that they would be rooted out soon.

Militants often target polio teams and police assigned to protect them. The proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claim the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilise children.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two remaining countries in the world where polio is endemic, after Nigeria was last year declared free of the wild poliovirus.

Pakistan regularly launches polio drives. It had hoped to eliminate polio back in 2018 when only 12 cases were reported. But in the years since there has been an uptick in new cases.

The latest five-day anti-polio drive started with an aim to immunise some 40 million children under the age of five against the crippling disease with a focus on high-risk cities including Karachi and Quetta.

The campaign involves 285,000 health workers who while observing coronavirus-related standard operating procedures (SOPs) will go door-to-door to vaccinate children.

According to a statement, during the drive, the trained polio frontline workers will reach every child with essential polio vaccine while adhering to strict health guidelines such as wearing a mask, using hand sanitiser, and maintaining the minimum distance advised during the campaign.

1 COMMENT

  1. Is there anyone who can convey felicitation to the murderer congratulating him for making a confirmed booking for his place in Giant Ovens.
    I can only beg every available resources for making people aware to publicise the fact that the Almighty’s Command is ” Thou shalt not commit murder “. People need to be educated of the undeniable fact that every soul will be judged by the Almighty according to His Laws on the day of Judgement. No one will be judged according to their own home made laws. It is feared that just too many people are motivated by their home made laws.

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