ISLAMABAD: In what seems to be an unfortunate development, the Khasadar force in the trouble-hit South Waziristan district on Thursday decided to boycott the ongoing polio campaign in protest against the non-release of seven-month pending salaries amid reports of new polio cases surfacing in various parts of the country.
Subedars and hawaldars of the Khasadar force belonging to all nine main tribes of Ahmadzai Wazir, SlaimanKhel and Dothani decided that they would vacate all check posts and stop performing duties unless pending salaries are released, giving a deadline of February 25.
The decision was taken in a jirga of the force in Wana, the headquarter of South Waziristan, wherein around 1,400 khasadar force personnel from Ahmadzai Wazir, Slaimankhel and Duthani tribes participated.
They said that they are facing a great financial crisis due to the non-release of their salaries, as they are neither able to feed their families nor to pay school fees of their children.
Later while addressing a press conference, subedar Rasool Jan Wazir, Muhammad Ayub Dothani, and Allah Noor along with others lamented that the district administration is least bothered regarding the release of pending salaries.
They said that they informed the South Waziristan district administration, Provincial Information Minister Shoukat Yousafzia and Saffron secretary about the gravity of the situation; however, they all ignored the issue.
Therefore, the Khasadar force officials said that they left with no option but to boycott the polio campaign and vacate all check posts in the district.
They lamented that the khasadars in North Waziristan are getting salaries regularly, while those in the South are being treated unjustly.
They demanded that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief minister, governor and other high officials release their salaries that are pending from August 2018 to February 2019 so as they could feed their families.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is among the three countries, including Afghanistan and Nigeria where polio still exists and the boycott could negatively impact the whole polio campaign.
