By Staff Reporter
NOWSHERA: A police constable assigned to protect a team administering polio vaccines was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday in Pakistan’s volatile northwest, authorities said, in an assault that underscored the perilous risks facing health workers in the country’s renewed push to stamp out the crippling disease.
The constable, identified as Maqsood, was killed instantly when assailants opened fire on him in the jurisdiction of the Nizampur police station in Nowshera district, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, according to a statement from the Nowshera police. Despite the attack, he managed to shield the polio workers he was accompanying, allowing them to escape unharmed.
The killing occurred a day after a Levies constable — a local paramilitary official — was shot dead while guarding another vaccination team in the nearby Swat district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Both incidents took place amid a nationwide immunization campaign that the government launched earlier this week, with the goal of vaccinating more than 45 million children under the age of 5. A special order issued for the drive called for the deployment of 285 police personnel across the country to secure the teams as they moved door to door.
“The attack took place within the jurisdiction of the Nizampur police station,” the police statement said. “Following the incident, security for polio teams across the area was tightened, while the campaign in the affected locality was suspended.”
In the immediate aftermath, a heavy contingent of police officers rushed to the scene, cordoned off the area and initiated a search operation to track down the attackers, the statement added. Law enforcement agencies are making “full efforts” to arrest those involved.
The funeral prayer was offered with full official honors at the Police Lines in Nowshera, attended by police and army officers, political and social figures, and a large number of local residents, the police statement said. “The body of the martyred officer was sent to his native place, Khushgi Bala, where the martyr will be buried with full official honors,” it added.
The assault highlighted the persistent threats confronting Pakistan’s polio eradication efforts, which have long been marred by violence in the country’s restive border regions. Polio vaccinators, who fan out into communities to inoculate children, are frequently targeted by militants, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and neighboring Balochistan Province.
In 2024 alone, 20 people were killed and 53 injured during anti-polio campaigns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to government data. This year’s drive has shown some signs of progress despite the dangers. Data from September indicated that the number of vaccine refusals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had dropped during the most recent immunization round. Yet challenges persist: In some areas, such as the Lowi Mamund tehsil, residents announced a boycott of the campaign, citing longstanding grievances over security and access.
The violence is not isolated to this week. In May, a policeman guarding a polio vaccination team was killed in a gun attack by unidentified assailants in Balochistan’s Noshki district. Another officer met the same fate in February in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district. No group has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack. But the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan has previously taken credit for similar assaults on vaccination teams, often framing the inoculation campaigns as a Western conspiracy aimed at sterilizing Muslim children.
Pakistan remains one of only two countries — along with Afghanistan — where polio is still considered endemic, a stubborn holdout in a global effort that has reduced cases by more than 99 percent since 1988. The disease, which can cause irreversible paralysis, primarily affects young children and spreads through contaminated water or food. While international partners like the World Health Organization and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have poured billions into the fight, progress has been hampered by a toxic mix of security threats, vaccine hesitancy and rampant misinformation.
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