All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Chief General Retrd Pervez Musharraf condemned the killing of Polio workers in Karachi. The former president said that ideological enemies of Pakistan were responsible for such gruesome acts of violence. He added that his government had fought against these anti-country elements but some sections of society criticized him instead of supporting his policies.
In a statement issued from APML’s Central Information Secretariat, Musharraf ‘expressed worries’ and said that “our country came on second number in the world regarding the polio disease so it is necessary to eradicate this killing disease from the country”. He said that enemies of Pakistan were hatching plots to breed extremism in our country and added that a conspiracy was being effectively orchestrated to isolate Pakistan in the comity of nations.
Musharraf said that if enemies continued hitting foreign funded projects and the government remained silent as usual, all foreign funded projects would be abandoned and no foreign country would help us on any issue in future.
Moreover, Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) also condemned killings of polio workers in Karachi and
Peshawar. PIMA President Dr Misbah-ul-Aziz in a statement on Wednesday said that the unfortunate incident had sowed insecurity among the medical community. He said that “abduction of doctors and at times their killings was being noticed for quite some time and this coupled with killings of community health workers during past two days has aggravated the situation,” . PIMA President said that the matter must be looked into with absolute sincerity of purpose by the concerned authorities. He said “there is no denial to the fact that many of the medical graduates and health experts have already left or were contemplating to leave the country. However a majority of doctors are keen to serve their countrymen; however, emerging conditions have compelled them to adopt drastic measures”.
Taking notice of the brewing resentment against the attacks, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah summoned preliminary reports regarding the murders. He directed the additional IG Police Karachi to submit a report on the heinous incident within 24 hours.
CM Sindh directed the health officials to provide best possible treatment to the injured persons. He also condoled with families of the deceased women workers and prayed to Almighty Allah to grant their souls eternal peace. Expressing his firm resolve to continue the anti polio campaign, the CM said that “miscreants would not be allowed to sabotage the anti polio campaign aimed at to eradicate the crippling disease from our society”.
Meanwhile, anti-polio campaigners are facing obstacles in pakhtoon localities of the metropolis. Karachi Commissioner Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi urged the polio teams operating in the city to not loose heart. It is pertinent to note that the first attack on anti-polio immunization campaigners was orchestrated on Monday in Gadap Town.
The Monday attack did not grab the administration’s attention towards the menace that resulted in the deaths of four volunteers including three female workers. The commissioner informed that in his capacity he could not ensure life of all citizens. However he informed that security of the anti-polio teams was planned three weeks in advance by Sindh police, Rangers and the home department. Zaidi, setting aside the impression that the attacks on polio vaccinators were a result of Shakeel Afridi’s polio campaign in Abbottabad to locate Osama Bin Laden, vowed to assist in continuation of the campaign saying that “we cannot allow our children to be disabled.”
