Peshawar. The police team deployed to protect polio workers running polio vaccination campaign in the north-western part of Pakistan has been attacked. On Tuesday, two policemen deployed to protect polio workers doing door-to-door vaccination were shot dead by suspected militants riding a motorcycle in Mohmand district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Another policeman was also injured in this firing.
Police officer Ayaz Khan said that the policemen were going to a nearby village to protect the vaccination teams when they were fired upon. As soon as the shot was fired, the attackers fled from the scene. No organization immediately took responsibility for this attack.
The police officer said the Pakistani Taliban and other militant organizations regularly target policemen deployed in polio eradication campaigns and protecting health workers. They falsely claim that polio vaccination campaigns are part of a conspiracy by Western countries to make children infertile.
The problem often faced by healthcare workers going on vaccination campaigns is that sometimes a rumor is spread that this vaccination campaign is a conspiracy of western countries and under this, Muslim children are made impotent. Because of this, there is opposition to the vaccination team.
In Islamabad, Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi described the attack as “unbearable” and expressed condolences to the families of the slain policemen. He said that the policemen were working for the healthy future of the country.