Dr Babar Ali, who was also the polio immunisation programme coordinator for the district, was assassinated in Hassanabdal on March 18 last year. A month later, Dr Faisal Mansoor, Ali’s cousin, was killed in the same manner.
A six-member police investigation team was formed to probe Ali’s murder, but they have found no clues yet, much to the annoyance of the victims’ families and colleagues. They say the police are not taking the investigation seriously.
Some police officials, however, think the murder could be linked to the fact that he was part of a polio vaccination team in Katahrian village, Hassanabdal tehsil.
Saddar Police Station, Hassanabdal had registered an FIR on March 10 on behalf of Tauseef Shah, a polio vaccination team in-charge. According to the police report, the complainant informed the police that two unknown armed persons held the polio team at gunpoint while they were administering the drops.
The gunmen, said to be from the tribal areas, ordered the polio team to halt vaccination, or face serious consequences. Just eight days after the incident, Dr Babar Ali was assassinated, which is why some police officials thought the murder could be linked.
But when contacted, Attock’s then district police officer Israr Khan Abbasi, who is now Rawalpindi CPO, denied any link between the polio incident and the murder.
Some people also thought that the two murders could also be sectarian in nature, since both victims were Shia.
Recently-appointed Attock District Police Officer Nadeem Hussain said the case is an important for the police. He said that he has tasked the Hassanabdal sub-divisional police officer with investigating the case.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2015.
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