Footprints: Punjab vaccinators in the cross hairs

Published December 12, 2014
A rescue worker checks blood-stained forms belonging to a polio worker who was shot by gunmen.—Reuters/File
A rescue worker checks blood-stained forms belonging to a polio worker who was shot by gunmen.—Reuters/File
Body of polio worker being shifted to a hospital. — INP/file
Body of polio worker being shifted to a hospital. — INP/file

ON an ordinary day, Mohammad Sarfaraz could have been typically found either at the local mosque or at the Al Rehmania High School teaching his class. But not anymore. Instead, on a mournful Wednesday morning, his relatives — their hearts brimming with misery — laid him to rest.

The family is in shock.

Sarfaraz’s wife remains silent, only crying in bouts. His young sons Ali Shan and Zeeshan too seem to have become withdrawn. His youngest daughter Erum Shahzadi cries like any other confused 14-year-old would at her father’s funeral. It is his older daughter Neelum Shahzadi who is the most affected. She does not know whether to cry or to shout. She does not even know who to shout at.

Know more: Polio vaccinator shot dead in Faisalabad, Jundullah claims responsibility

Silence hangs heavy in the air. No one wants to talk about the murder of the 40-year-old schoolteacher who was only helping out in a polio campaign. “What is the point of asking us questions?” wails Neelum, suddenly angry at the world. “No one has bothered to trace his murderers.” Before she can say another word, she is silenced by her uncle and collapses in tears. An older relative tries to calm her down.

“This is how she has been since yesterday,” says the old woman. “She hasn’t eaten or slept. She has just been crying.”

The family says that Sarfaraz and a Lady Health Worker (LHW) were taking part in a door-to-door polio campaign and while the first day went smoothly, after doing four houses on the second day, two gunmen with cloth wrapped around their faces drove by on a motorcycle opening fire. Someone saw the number plate, which was later declared fake by the DCO after checking up on it. “He was not even giving the drops, he was just checking the list of names,” says Iftikhar, Sarfaraz’s brother. “They shot him six times. Most bullets hit him in the stomach and two in the legs.” He points to the places where the bullets entered and exited.

By the time he was taken to Civil Hospital he was already dead. The family has no idea who was behind it. “We have no enmity with anyone,” says Iftikhar. “He was the kindest, most loved man around here.”

The women who have come from the neighbouring houses nod their heads in agreement.

“He helped everyone. Every Thursday he would bring packets of biscuits or sweets and distribute them among his students.”

At this memory Neelum and her younger sister Erum start crying again. “I remember he was joking with us on the last night. Even though we have buried him, we cannot believe that he is gone just like that,” weeps Erum.

After Sarfaraz, the family has no one to earn for them. The children are too young and are studying. “We want the culprits arrested,” says his widow quietly, her eyes flickering with angry determination. “He has never been involved in violence.”

While the family denies it ever happened, Anees-ur-Rehman, general secretary of the Punjab Paramedical Alliance and a senior polio campaign official, says that the police were told that Sarfaraz had been attacked a few months ago. “They claim — but this is unconfirmed — that he was shot at near his feet but escaped unhurt. I suspect that if this happened it was because of his active campaigning.”

But a polio worker says that some police officials were pressuring him and others to claim the murder was committed due to personal enmity, but they have refused to say so. The campaign was suspended for some time but even now many polio workers say that on being paid only Rs1,100 — that too every five months — they will not risk their lives for this work.

“Since 2004 Faisalabad is the only city that has become polio-free thanks to our campaigning,” says Rehman. “For the past 23 months our environmental samples are also polio-free. We have a very low number of people who refuse to give their children drops so we do not really need door-to-door campaigns, except in some areas. But the government must understand that polio volunteers work hard with very little pay and now this security problem is adding to it.”

For some reason, he says from the start the health department and police have stuck to the personal enmity theory. “Maybe it is the better thing to publicise,” he says. “Saying terrorists did it will scare all the others too and spread panic.”

The LHW who was with Sarfaraz is now very scared. Afraid of being a target too, she refuses to talk to most people. “I don’t know what to do. How can I carry on this work with the fear of being killed any day?” she asks.

Meanwhile, Punjab Health Services DG Dr Zahid Parvaiz says that no conclusion can be reached before a proper investigation is done. “It is still unclear whether this was an incident of terrorism or enmity,” he says. “Punjab was safe but after this incident we have decided to increase the number of campaign days and decrease the number of polio teams. It will now be up to the DCO and local administration as to how much police they can give to their polio workers because there are 35,000 teams in the province. Deploying 70,000 police officers may get difficult.”

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2014

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