- Balochistan govt vows strict action against culprits.
- Attack called conspiracy to spread fear, sabotage drive.
- Premier says polio team protected children’s future.
NUSHKI/QUETTA: A police constable providing security to an anti-polio team was martyred while another sustained injuries when unidentified attackers opened fire on them in Nushki, Balochistan, on Tuesday.
The incident prompted authorities to temporarily suspend the ongoing polio vaccination campaign in the district.
The Pakistan Polio Programme officially commenced its third National Immunisation Days (NIDs) campaign on Monday, to make Pakistan a polio-free nation.
The week-long campaign aims to immunise over 45 million children under five years of age. This effort is seen as a decisive step in the country’s final push to stop poliovirus transmission and achieve eradication by the end of 2025.
According to the Balochistan government spokesperson, Shahid Rind, the attack was an attempt to sabotage a vital national campaign and instil fear among the public.
“The anti-polio drive is a national obligation, and any attack on it is intolerable,” he said in a strongly worded statement, calling the assault a conspiracy to derail the campaign and spread panic.
Rind further said that operations against terrorists would be intensified, vowing to bring the culprits to justice swiftly.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in strong terms and expressed heartfelt condolences to the family of the martyred police official.
President Zardari said that the war against polio was not over and reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to eradicating the disease. “We will not rest until polio is completely eliminated,” he declared.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that attacking a team working to safeguard children’s future was absolutely unacceptable. “Those trying to derail the polio campaign will be dealt with firmly,” he warned.
In Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan — the only countries where polio remains endemic — militants have for decades targeted vaccination teams and their security escorts.
Over the past decade, hundreds of police officers and health workers have been killed by militants.
Polio, a highly infectious virus mainly affecting children under five, can result in lifelong paralysis but is easily prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of a vaccine.
Pakistan recorded a surge in polio cases last year, with 74 infections reported, compared to just six in 2023. Meanwhile, nine have been reported in 2025 so far.
In April, two Levies personnel were martyred in Mastung’s Kali Teri area in Balochistan when unidentified assailants opened fire on a polio team’s security detail.
In the same month, a policeman also embraced martyrdom while a terrorist was killed in an exchange of fire following an attack on police personnel guarding a polio vaccination team in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan district.
