Policemen shift the body of a colleague at a hospital after an attack on a polio vaccination team in Peshawar on November 30, 2013. PHOTO: AFP
A policeman identified as Zakir Khan was killed while another was injured when unidentified men opened fire at them on Canal Road, within the jurisdiction of Banamarhi police station, Saturday afternoon.
Head constable Yaqoob Khan, who hails from Charsadda, and constable Zakir Khan from Tirah Valley were on their way to the police station after completing their polio team escort duty in Bahader Kallay when the incident took place.
Zakir, who was usually on duty at the Daudzai police station, had been called to Banamarhi to provide the polio teams with security. He had joined the police force less than a year ago.
According to a police official, the policemen had reached the graveyard on Canal Road, which is also used as a bus stop, when the suspects started firing at them. He added Zakir was killed in the attack and Yaqoob was seriously wounded. The suspects managed to escape. A large number of policemen reached the area after the incident and conducted a raid but could not find the gunmen.
The official said due to increased militant activity in the area, the police face real problems. Three khasadar officials of Khyber Agency were injured in the same area while providing security to polio vaccinators when a roadside bomb went off on Ring Road, Peshawar, stated authorities. Last month a polio worker was killed in Kagawala village within the limits of the Badhaber police station.
Two polio volunteers were also killed in Tapaini, Swabi, on June 16 while administering drops to children in the area. In January, a police constable escorting polio workers was shot dead in Gullo Dheri, Swabi. On the same day in the neighbouring district of Mardan, a man took an axe to a lady health worker’s brother as he accompanied her during the anti-polio drive.
According to official figures, out of the 70 polio cases which have been reported in the country so far, 10 are from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 48 from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), seven cases from Punjab and five from Sindh. Out of these one case in Peshawar and one in Khyber Agency are yet to be confirmed.
Vaccination drive postponed
Polio vaccination drives have been postponed across Fata, including Khyber Agency, till December 9 due to a shortage of polio vaccines.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Khyber Agency Agency Surgeon Dr Samin Shinwari confirmed the anti-polio drive was planned to start this weekend but health authorities did not replenish the vaccine stock from Islamabad. Shinwari said 392 teams have been formed for door-to-door vaccination in Landikotal, Jamrud, Mullagori and other areas.
Immunisation campaigns in these areas are conducted smoothly and peacefully, claimed the agency surgeon. Security forces accompany polio teams in troubled areas, he added.Around 128,000 children are the target set for the ongoing drive.
With additional reporting from our correspondent in Landikotal
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2013.
COMMENTS (4)
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paying price for being human among less human people.
no PTI circus for the protection of police and polio team
This must be stopped. i think a secret force in civil dress who keep a look on the police constable accompanying the polio workers would help. They would watching from a safe distance and at the same time they would be able to apprehend suspects before any incident takes place.