Two policemen guarding vaccinators shot dead

DI KHAN: Assailants shot and killed two policemen who were guarding a polio vaccination team in the district on Tuesday, District Police Officer DI Khan Nisar Marwat said.

Both men were from Daira Town police station and were identified as Ilyas and Abbas, who were escorting the team in Gandi Umar Khan village, located 25 kilometers away from DI Khan city, when they were attacked by two unidentified men on a motorcycle. A search operation in underway. The bodies were taken to the DHQ and Teaching Hospital DI Khan for an autopsy.

Earlier, the National Task Force on Polio Eradication met the prime minister at PM House in Islamabad. The prime minister said efforts to eradicate the virus from Pakistan must be doubled, particularly in the face of possible travel restrictions imposed on Pakistanis.

He expressed his concern over the incidences of polio cases in FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying, “We cannot be found wanting or be deterred on any account in the performance of eradicating this virus.”

He reiterated the need to find locally appropriate solutions for North and South Waziristan. He urged the provincial governments to take every possible measure to provide security to vaccinators. The National Task Force briefed the PM on its efforts, saying 34 million children are being vaccinated in each of the national polio drives.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2014.