Two polio workers among six kidnapped from FR Tank

Published February 17, 2014
In this Feb. 2, 2014 photo, Pakistani police officer stand guard as people who need to vaccinate their children against polio approach health workers, in Peshawar, Pakistan. —AP Photo
In this Feb. 2, 2014 photo, Pakistani police officer stand guard as people who need to vaccinate their children against polio approach health workers, in Peshawar, Pakistan. —AP Photo
In this Feb. 2, 2014 photo, Pakistani police officer stand guard as people who need to vaccinate their children against polio approach health workers, in Peshawar, Pakistan. —AP Photo
In this Feb. 2, 2014 photo, Pakistani police officer stand guard as people who need to vaccinate their children against polio approach health workers, in Peshawar, Pakistan. —AP Photo

PESHAWAR: Six men including two polio workers were kidnapped from a rural area in Frontier Region Tank, official sources told Dawn.com on Monday.

Sources said that a driver accompanying a team of polio vaccination workers and three Khasadar security personnel were also picked up by unknown people while the team was on routine duty in Peeng village in FR Tank.

Sources added that the kidnapped men included Dr Khandad and Fareed Taleem Ullah, who were working for the polio vaccination program.

No militant group has so far claimed responsibility of the kidnapping.

The incident comes a day after a policeman deployed for a vaccination campaign was killed in a bomb attack in Peshawar.

FR Tank lies on the outer boundaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tank district and separates it from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) governed by tribal laws.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where the crippling polio virus remains endemic.

According to the WHO, Pakistan recorded 91 cases of polio last year, up from 58 in 2012. It warned earlier this year that Peshawar is the world’s “largest reservoir” of polio.

More than 40 health workers and police personnel providing security to teams administering anti-polio drops to children have been killed in incidents of violence in the country since December 2012, according to a tally by news agency AFP.

Opinion

Editorial

By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...
Not without reform
Updated 22 Apr, 2024

Not without reform

The problem with us is that our ruling elite is still trying to find a way around the tough reforms that will hit their privileges.
Raisi’s visit
22 Apr, 2024

Raisi’s visit

IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi, who begins his three-day trip to Pakistan today, will be visiting the country ...
Janus-faced
22 Apr, 2024

Janus-faced

THE US has done it again. While officially insisting it is committed to a peaceful resolution to the...