The fight against the disease: Policeman guarding polio team shot dead

Senior officials believe the two attacks in one week were meant to target the police, not the polio campaign

KARACHI:

Polio is proving to be a formidable enemy to Pakistan. Especially with militants on its side, it may take a lot of effort if we are to win this war against the crippling disease. Currently, the good side seems to be losing — both the number of polio cases as well as the number of casualties among those on the frontline, the vaccination teams and security personnel, seem to be rising.

The latest such casualty came in the shape of an under-training recruit on guard duty with the vaccination team in Nazimabad, Karachi, on Monday. The 20-year-old was shot dead in broad daylight. This was the second incident of a targeted assault on security personnel guarding the vaccination teams in a week.

The victim, Shahmir, son of Allah Buksh, was guarding the polio vaccination team in Nazimabad No. 3 when armed motorcyclists shot and killed him. He was shot multiple times and died on the spot. The assailants, however, managed to escape before the policemen deployed in the adjacent streets reached the site.

Panic gripped the locality in the wake of the incident. Witnesses said that a single cop was deployed for the two polio workers who were vaccinating the children in every household. "The two young armed men riding a motorcycle shot the police official," said the witness. "After shooting, they [assailants] moved towards the polio workers who were administering drops to the children at a short distance." Before they could open fire at the health workers, however, the latter entered the house where they had been vaccinating the children and locked the door from inside. Witnesses said that as the polio workers saved themselves, the assailants shot the police official again and escaped towards the Bara Maidan, firing shots into the air.

On January 19, assistant-sub inspector Tabassum Ali, who was posted to the Anti-Encroachment Cell of the Sindh police and was guarding the polio team in Orangi Town, was shot and critically wounded by armed motorcyclists.

Polio teams have come under attack in various localities in the past. These include Sohrab Goth, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Landhi, Baldia Town, Orangi Town and Qayyumabad. Militants affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan were found to be involved in most of these attacks. Law enforces have also claimed to have killed or arrested over half a dozen suspects responsible for the attacks.

In the two recent incidents, however, the police officials believe that the target was not the polio campaign; rather it was the police that were the target. A senior police official said that the attack was meant to target the police as well as scare the polio workers. "First, they started killing the polio workers to stop the polio vaccination campaign but later the police encouraged the polio workers by providing them security cover," he reasoned. "It seems that by targeting the police guarding the polio teams, they hope to scare the polio workers," said the officer.

The Karachi Police chief AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo, was also of the belief that the recent attacks on police officials guarding the vaccination teams had nothing to do with the polio campaign. "These attacks have no link to the polio campaign. They were only meant to target the police," he told The Express Tribune. "Their ultimate aim is to destroy the peace of the city."

Due to the shortage of strength, the police department has been compelled to deploy personnel from different units or cells of the police for security duties during the polio campaigns. The deceased cop, Shahmir, was an under-training policeman who was getting his police training at the Saeedabad Police Training Centre for the last eight months. The victim's body was sent to his hometown, Naushero Feroze, for burial.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2015.