An area supervisor of an anti-polio campaign was martyred in Chaman on Thursday when unidentified assailants opened fire on a vaccination team, Levies officials said. According to details, the attack took place in Roghani Three Union Council of the border town, where Abdul Qadir, serving as the area supervisor of the polio drive, was fatally shot. Two female health workers accompanying the team remained unharmed in the incident.
The assailants managed to escape after the attack, while security personnel cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. The body of the slain supervisor was shifted to a local hospital for medico-legal formalities. The tragic incident underscores the persistent threats faced by health workers engaged in Pakistan’s polio eradication efforts, particularly in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where militants have frequently targeted vaccination teams. Despite repeated assurances of protection, attacks on frontline health staff have continued, raising fresh concerns about the safety of workers deployed in high-risk districts.
Officials condemned the assault, terming it an attempt to disrupt the national campaign against polio. They reiterated that such attacks would not deter efforts to eliminate the crippling disease, stressing that enhanced security measures were being put in place to safeguard vaccination teams. Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, and authorities have said that protecting frontline workers is essential to achieving eradication goals.
