Seeking compensation: Family of slain polio worker demands Shuhada package

Tells PHC govt pension insufficient to educate deceased’s children.

PESHAWAR: The family of a slain polio worker approached the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday and sought a Shuhada package as is given to families of law enforcement personnel and civil servants killed fighting militancy in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The family asked the provincial government provide them the Shuhada package because they are facing financial difficulties. They pointed out that unidentified people shot dead Zahir Gul when he was vaccinating children in Mattani village on the outskirts of Peshawar.



The division bench of PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Roohul Amin Khan issued notices to the chief secretary and health secretary to submit their written replies in this case before the next date of hearing.

Raja Muhammad Ijaz, counsel for petitioner Adnan Zahir, told the court his client’s father was shot dead when gunmen opened fire at Civil Hospital in Mattani on December 27, 2013. He added routine immunisation was in progress at that time and one team was formed for outdoor vaccinations.

“The deceased was a dispenser associated with the provincial health department and was appointed as a civil servant. Just as families of other officials killed in the line of duty are paid a Shuhada package, so should his,” contended the counsel.

He said the department is paying a pension to the family, but it is not enough to fulfil their needs. “They need the money to educate their children.”

Petitions seeking Shuhada packages are being submitted on a regular basis in the PHC by families of those killed in the line of government duty.



After the December 18, 2012 attack on polio workers in Peshawar and Karachi claimed the lives of five vaccinators, the K-P government beefed up security during immunisation drives. In the current campaigns, the district administration imposes Section 144 and bans motorcycle riding.

The provincial government is providing Rs3 million to the family of those policemen killed fighting militancy as well as a job for one of their children.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2015.