By Ashrafuddin Pirzada
PESHAWAR: Unidentified armed men on Monday kidnapped three officers of the World Health Organization (WHO) who were monitoring an anti-polio campaign in the remote Mullazai area of Tank district, officials said.
District Police Officer (DPO) Shabbir Hussain Shah said the incident took place near Umerkot, where gunmen intercepted the WHO team and abducted district surveillance officer Dr.Ihsanullah, union council communication support officer Hikmatullah and union council polio Officer Abdullah. The assailants took the abductees to an unknown location. Soon after, heavy police contingents reached the site, cordoned off the area and launched a search operation, but no trace of the kidnapped officers had been found till late evening.
Local elders criticized the administration for sending WHO staff into such a volatile region, pointing out that Tank has long faced worsening law and order, with frequent incidents of abduction and dacoity. They recalled that dozens of government officials had been kidnapped in the district in the past, many of whom were later killed, while a few had been released.
Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world where the crippling polio virus is still endemic, and international health agencies continue to monitor vaccination campaigns in high-risk areas. However, polio workers and monitoring teams have frequently come under attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly in southern districts like Tank, where militants and criminal gangs have targeted health officials, disrupting eradication efforts and putting frontline workers in constant danger.
