Police official on polio duty shot dead in Bannu

Published December 3, 2020
Unknown motorcyclists shot dead a police official on polio duty in Jhandokhel locality of Bannu district. — AFP/File
Unknown motorcyclists shot dead a police official on polio duty in Jhandokhel locality of Bannu district. — AFP/File

LAKKI MARWAT: Unknown motorcyclists shot dead a police official on polio duty in Jhandokhel locality of Bannu district on Wednesday.

The officials said the incident occurred in limits of the cantonment police station. They said ASI Akhir Zaman was ambushed by assailants when he was returning to the police station after performing security duty with a polio team.

The officials said the assailants escaped the place after the attack, and the body was shifted to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem.

A police contingent cordoned off the area and launched a search operation, but there were no reports of any immediate arrest.

Deputy commissioner Mohammad Zubair Niazi, DPO Waseem Riaz and other police officials attended the funeral prayers of martyred official offered at the Iqbal Marwat Shaheed Police Lines in Bannu city.

On the occasion, a police contingent presented a salute to the martyred cop. Later, his coffin was taken to his native Gulanoor Barakzai village for burial.

Meanwhile, officials of the education and revenue departments immunised over two dozen children of the reluctant parents against polio after holding talks with elders in Kotka Bahadarkhel village of Tajazai here on Wednesday.

During the ongoing anti-polio drive, a mobile health department team had gone to the village to administer oral polio vaccine to children under the age of five. However, the local elders did not allow vaccinators to immunise the children, and asked them to leave the village, telling them that they won’t allow their children to get vaccinated against polio until the area’s only primary school was made functional.

The health workers reported the matter to deputy commissioner Abdul Haseeb who tasked district education officer Midrarullah to visit the area and convince villagers on immunisation of children against the crippling disease.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2020

Editorial

US aggression
Updated 23 Jun, 2025

US aggression

If there is any state in the world that the international community must be concerned about harbouring weapons of mass destruction, it is Israel.
Finishing the job
23 Jun, 2025

Finishing the job

THE federal health minister’s assertion of a 99pc reduction in polio cases in Pakistan, while impressive on the...
Exam leaks
23 Jun, 2025

Exam leaks

FOR students who put in countless hours of hard work for their secondary school exams — mainly to secure admission...
‘Hybrid’ talk
22 Jun, 2025

‘Hybrid’ talk

IN the past, while most elected governments would at least publicly bristle at the mention of being partners in ...
Farcical nomination
Updated 22 Jun, 2025

Farcical nomination

Many citizens have expressed dismay and embarrassment over this symbolic capitulation to the US presidency.
Sunken dreams
22 Jun, 2025

Sunken dreams

THE heartrending fate of people escaping conflict, deprivation and instability across the globe is among the...