Ambassador Masood Khan in a meeting with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, at the UN headquarters Wednesday, reiterated Pakistan’s strong commitment towards complete eradication of polio from his country.
Citing killing of innocent humanitarian workers involved in polio vaccination campaign as unfortunate and very sad incident, the ambassador informed the Secretary General that President and the Prime Minister’s of Pakistan had strongly condemned and took a very serious notice of this inhuman act.
The UN Spokesperson today in his briefing to the media said, “the Secretary-General joins the World Health Organization and UNICEF in condemning these senseless and inexcusable attacks on health workers”.
Handing over President of Pakistan’s statement of condemnation on this heinous crime, the ambassador apprised the Secretary General that the President had directed all the concerned authorities to coordinate with the national polio eradication teams and provide them foolproof security so that they could continue the campaign without any hindrance. ?The President, he mentioned had reiterated unflinching resolve and commitment of the government for complete eradication of polio from the country and urged the provincial governments for ensuring safety and security of the workers involved in this noble cause. The Permanent Representative also told the Secretary General of Prime Minister of Pakistan, serious concern over the attack on polio workers in Karachi and Peshawar.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF in their statements have expressed their strong commitment and support to the Government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan in their efforts to rid the country of polio and other diseases.
Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon commended government of Pakistan’s efforts for the eradication of polio from Pakistan.
The ambassador also mentioned strong condemnation by Ms. Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan’s Ambassador for Polio Eradication of the violence against Polio workers that killed female workers and a fourteen-year old girl in Pakistan today. “All involved in the polio campaign are selfless volunteers, they do this to save lives, and they do this to save Pakistan”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fun, UNICEF, have condemned the multiple attacks that have killed six health workers in the past 24 hours in Pakistan, adding that those killed were among thousands who work selflessly across Pakistan to eradicate polio. They further said that such attacks deprive Pakistan’s most vulnerable populations – especially children – of basic life-saving health interventions.
