Attacks on KP Polio campaign teams claim lives of policeman, polio worker

PESHAWAR: In a tragic turn of events, separate attacks on anti-polio teams in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have left a police officer martyred and two polio workers injured. The heinous assaults highlight the ongoing risks faced by frontline workers striving to eradicate polio in Pakistan, one of the last two countries where the disease remains endemic.
The first attack occurred in Kala Khel Masti Khan, where armed assailants fatally targeted a polio worker en route to his duties. Police suspect the incident might also be linked to an old personal enmity, though investigations are ongoing. In a second attack in Karak’s Banda Daud Shah Tehsil, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a polio vaccination team, killing a police officer assigned to their security and wounding a polio worker. The attackers fled the scene, prompting a province-wide search operation.
The assaults, carried out a day after the launch of a nationwide anti-polio drive, have drawn widespread condemnation. Governor KP Faisal Karim Kundi termed the attacks a "cowardly act" and a conspiracy by anti-Pakistan forces. He expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives and directed authorities to provide the best medical care to the injured. Similarly, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur vowed to take decisive action against those responsible, calling the attackers “enemies of our children’s secure future.”
President Asif Ali Zardari also condemned the attacks, urging the public to actively participate in the polio vaccination campaign. He described the attackers as terrorists opposing the health and prosperity of Pakistan's people. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif echoed these sentiments, emphasizing that such acts of violence would not deter the nation’s resolve to eradicate polio.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi labeled the incidents as an "attack on Pakistan's future," reiterating the government’s commitment to ensuring the safety of polio workers and their security teams.
Despite global efforts to eliminate polio, Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the last two countries where the virus is endemic, predominantly affecting children under five and causing permanent paralysis in severe cases. Ongoing challenges, including vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, and militant threats, have hampered progress.
Hundreds of police officers and polio workers have been killed in similar attacks over the last decade. In September, another polio worker and a police officer were killed during a vaccination campaign, while two policemen protecting a polio team were murdered in KP's Orakzai district in October.