Gunned down: Doctor’s murder could be linked to polio drive

The cold-blooded murder of Dr Babar Ali, the Hassanabdal deputy district health officer who was also the coordinator of the polio immunisation programme, could be polio-related issue, police officials informed the Express Investigation Cell.

Dr Babar Ali was assassinated by two unknown armed men when he was on way home on March 18 in Hassanabdal city, Attock district. A police investigation team was formed to probe the incident but so far, it is clueless, officials claim.

The family of the deceased has already explained to the police that they do not have a personal enmity with anyone.

However, some police officials think the murder could be linked to the fact that he was part of a team that was administering polio drops to children in the Katahrian village, Hassanabdal tehsil.

The Saddar police station had registered an FIR on March 10 on behalf of Syed Tauseef Shah, an in-charge of a polio vaccination team. According to the police report, the complainant informed the police that two unknown armed persons held the polio team at gunpoint when they were administering the drops.

They had threatened the polio team to halt the vaccination of children in the area, otherwise they would face serious consequences. Due to the threat, the polio campaign was temporarily suspended.

Just eight days after this incident, Dr Babar Ali was assassinated, which is why police think the murder could be a result of the incident.

But when contacted, Attock’s district police officer Israr Khan said that so far no link could be established with Dr Babar Ali’s murder and the spate of polio-related incidents in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2014.