Continued killings cripple polio drive

Attacks on volunteers of anti-polio drive continued in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday, as unidentified gunmen killed a female anti-polio worker and her team’s driver in Charsadda and injured another volunteer in Peshawar. The World Health Organisation subsequently suspended all field activities in the country after the targeting of four polio teams in various areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The attacks came a day after similar attacks on the WHO polio vaccination teams in Karachi and Peshawar on Tuesday. At least four workers were killed in Karachi and another in Peshawar.
On Wednesday, five incidents of attacks on anti-polio teams were reported, three in Charsadda and one each in Peshawar and Nowshera districts.
The first incident was reported in Daudzai area of Peshawar where unidentified armed men opened fire on a volunteer of the anti-polio campaign and wounded him. He received a bullet to the head and was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital. The volunteer, identified as Hilal, succumbed to his injuries later. A female worker accompanying him escaped and took refuge in a nearby house. The second incident occurred in Nehar Korona area of Behram Kaally union council where two armed men on motorbike opened fire on an anti-polio team. However, all team members escaped injuries.
The third attack was reported in Shuja Qila area of Dheri Zardad in the jurisdiction of the Nisata police station. Two motorcyclists opened fire on the anti-polio female team, but all workers remained safe. The fourth incident of firing was reported in Charsadda, where motorcyclists fired in the air near a vaccination team to terrorise the workers. Another incident was reported in Battagram area of Charsadda when three unidentified motorcyclists opened indiscriminate fire on a lady health worker and her driver, killing them on the spot. They were identified as Zakiya and Mohammad Ayaz. Zakiya was the supervisor of the anti-polio campaign in the area.
“Unidentified assailants attacked the polio team and killed anti-polio supervisor and her driver on the spot,” Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Charsadda district coordination officer, told reporters. He said the aim of the attacks on polio teams was to create panic and fear among the people and force the suspension of vaccination drive, however, security would be provided to the anti-polio volunteers and campaign against polio would be restarted.
However, WHO and UNICEF took no regard of the assurance and suspended all field work in the country until further orders.
The WHO had on Tuesday recommended the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government suspend the ongoing three-day anti-polio campaign in the province after the killing of a female worker. WHO had opined that due to inadequate security and attacks on volunteers, it was difficult to carry out the drive, but the government had rejected the proposal.
The government had preferred painting Tuesday’s killing of polio worker Farzana a result of family dispute and directed continuing with the immunisation drive.
Farzana was 14 years old, the same age as famed teen education activist Malala Yousafzai when she was targeted by the Taliban.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s indifference towards Farzana’s assassination – rather criminalisation of her death – and its hailing of Malala’s escapade can only be taken with a pinch of salt.
“If the government had realised the situation the day I lost my daughter and had suspended the three-day anti polio campaign, these incident would not have happened,” Saeed Rahman, Farzana’s father, said. Rahman also denied having any family dispute. Minister Information Main Iftikhar Hussain even told the provincial assembly that Farzana’s killing was a result of a family dispute and vowed to carry on with the anti-polio campaign.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is on top of the list of areas with reported polio cases, with as many as 22, followed by FATA at 19.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far. KP Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti announced Rs 300,000 for each person killed in the targeted attacks.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the killings “senseless and inexcusable”.