RAWALPINDI: Four incidents involving obstruction of polio vaccination teams in different areas of Rawalpindi over the past two days have been reported to the police by district health department officials.

In one incident, a female polio team member was allegedly punched and assaulted, while her mobile phone was smashed by a woman inside a house in Qazi Abad.

In the second incident, polio team member Tayyaba Bibi registered an FIR with the Sadiqabad police on Tuesday in which she said her team visited the house of a citizen in Iqbal Town to administer polio drops to children, but he refused to allow the team to vaccinate his children.

Tayyaba Bibi lodged another complaint with the Sadiqabad police, stating that her team knocked on the door of a citizen’s house in Iqbal Town, where he refused to allow his children to receive polio drops and misbehaved with the team. Tayyaba Bibi also registered a third case against a resident of Iqbal Town, who allegedly refused to allow his children to receive polio drops and misbehaved with the vaccination team.

Mohammad Israr Khan, District Health Officer (DHO), lodged a complaint with the women police on Monday, stating that when female polio team members knocked on the door of a house in Qazi Abad a woman came out and refused to allow her three children to receive polio drops.

When the polio team asked her the reason, she replied that her in-laws had stopped her from allowing the vaccination, adding that she had previously worked in the health department but had never administered polio drops or injections to her own children.

She further said that she had been involved in a court case with the polio team for the past year and asked the members to simply put a sign on the door. However, the team refused to do so. The complaint further stated that as the polio vaccination team was leaving and trying to inform its head over the phone, the woman became annoyed and allegedly started using abusive language. She pushed a team member down the stairs, assaulted her and smashed her mobile phone.

Later, the women police registered an FIR against the woman under Sections 353, 186 and 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

When contacted, Mohammad Israr Khan told Dawn that one of the female members of his polio team had been beaten and her expensive mobile phone was smashed by a woman inside a house.

He said a police team assigned to provide security to the polio team was present in the area but was not accompanying his team at the time. No arrest had been made by the police so far.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2026