Polio vaccinator shot dead in Faisalabad, Jundullah claims responsibility

Published December 9, 2014
In this photo, a health worker administers polio vaccination to a child during a vaccination campaign. — AFP/File
In this photo, a health worker administers polio vaccination to a child during a vaccination campaign. — AFP/File

LAHORE: Outlawed militant group Jundullah claimed responsibility for killing a polio vaccination team member in Faisalabad on Tuesday.

Ahmed Marwat, who claims to be the spokesman of Jundullah, said polio workers would always be on the group’s hit list throughout Pakistan and that it would continue carrying out attacks on them.

Take a look: Two policemen on polio duty shot dead

Today's attack — the latest of many on the teams — occurred in a residential area of Faisalabad in Punjab, where workers were immunising children on the second day of an anti-polio drive.

Mohammad Sarfaraz, 40, was a schoolteacher working as a volunteer in the campaign, senior police official Ali Waseem said.

“Gunmen on a motorcycle fired six shots and he died on the spot,” Waseem said.

Doctor Rana Waqar Sadiq, a senior health official, confirmed the killing of a member of his polio team.

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

Examine: Poor anti-polio drive in KP worries UN agencies

Attempts to stamp it out have been badly hit by opposition from militants and attacks on immunisation teams that have claimed 67 lives since December 2012.

The militants claim that polio vaccination is a front for espionage or a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.

Taliban insurgents had also claimed the killing of two policemen assigned to protect an immunisation team a day before.

Mohammad Khorasani, main spokesman for the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the killing of two policemen in northwest Pakistan the day before.

They were killed in the town of Buner near the Swat Valley while on the way to protect a polio vaccination team.

“Police are our target and both the men were killed because they were from the police force,” Khorasani said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Explore: Lady health workers boycott anti-polio campaign in Quetta

Opinion

Editorial

Plugging the gap
06 May, 2024

Plugging the gap

IN Pakistan, bias begins at birth for the girl child as discriminatory norms, orthodox attitudes and poverty impede...
Terrains of dread
06 May, 2024

Terrains of dread

KARACHI, with its long history of crime, is well-acquainted with the menace. For some time now, it has witnessed...
Appointment rules
06 May, 2024

Appointment rules

IT appears that, despite years of wrangling over the issue, the country’s top legal minds remain unable to decide...
Hasty transition
Updated 05 May, 2024

Hasty transition

Ostensibly, the aim is to exert greater control over social media and to gain more power to crack down on activists, dissidents and journalists.
One small step…
05 May, 2024

One small step…

THERE is some good news for the nation from the heavens above. On Friday, Pakistan managed to dispatch a lunar...
Not out of the woods
05 May, 2024

Not out of the woods

PAKISTAN’S economic vitals might be showing some signs of improvement, but the country is not yet out of danger....