2 policemen, polio worker gunned down

Imran Khan announced that he would personally spearhead a vaccination programme in K-P next week.

SWABI/ JAMRUD: As Pakistan witnesses a 30% increase in poliovirus cases, vaccination continues to face stiff resistance, especially in the northwest of the country.

On Friday, two policemen escorting vaccination teams and a field worker were gunned down in separate incidents highlighting growing threats faced by vaccinators. The shootings were the latest in a series of attacks by militants targeting vaccinators following the imposition of a ban by the Taliban last year, who see the campaigns as a cover for espionage.

The first incident took place on Swabi-Topi Road around 8:25am. SHO Swabi Izhar Khan said the two policemen – Constables Ijaz Ali and Iftikhar – were deployed in the investigations office when they were told to escort the polio teams in tehsil Topi.

The polio teams were going to the Civil Hospital, Topi, for duty. That is when they were attacked. “Ijaz Ali was killed on the spot, while Iftikhar was seriously injured,” the SHO told The Express Tribune. Iftikhar told the police that they were escorting the polio teams to the Civil Hospital when two men riding on a motorcycle opened fire on them.

Iftikhar succumbed to his injuries at the gate of the Lady Reading Hospital.

Separately, in tehsil Jamrud of Khyber Agency, gunmen riding on motorcycles opened fire at a polio worker, killing him on the spot. The victim, identified as Yousaf Khan, was a ward boy at the Civil Hospital, Jamrud, who, along with others, was administering anti-polio drops to minors when he was shot dead.

Khyber Agency surgeon Dr Sameen Jan confirmed the incident. However, Assistant Political Agent, Jamrud Subdivision, Jehangir Azam Wazir cited personal enmity as possible motives for the killing. A Khasadar official, who was on duty in the area, insisted that militants riding on motorcycles appeared at the end of a railway tunnel and shot Yousuf while he was vaccinating children.

Imran to lead polio drive

Condemning the latest violence, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan announced that he would personally spearhead a vaccination programme in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa next week.

“Unless Pakistan shows a serious resolve in carrying out its anti-polio programme, it stands in danger of being quarantined internationally – which will impact all Pakistanis travelling abroad, including Pakistani labour,” the PTI chief said in a statement.

Campaign boycotts

The Yousufkhel tribe in Landikotal, Khyber Agency, announced its boycott of the anti-polio campaign to press for the release of nine of their elders who were arrested a few days ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2013.