ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the brutal killings of female anti-polio vaccinators (health workers) in Karachi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The resolution, clubbed with three other resolutions of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was moved by S A Iqbal Qadri in the Lower House of Parliament.
The resolution condemned the brutal killings of the female health workers and demanded of the government to ensure protection of vaccinators, besides urging it to take action against elements involved in attacking vaccination teams in various parts of the country. The House also demanded of the government to apprehend culprits and award them maximum punishment and pay a reasonable amount of compensation to heirs of victims.
The House also called upon the federal and provincial governments to ensure adequate protection and security to all personnel involved in polio eradication campaigns.
Yasmeen Rehman of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) urged the government to provide security cover to health workers. She said polio vaccinators deployed in remote areas remained vulnerable to terrorist attacks and asked the government to ensure that perpetrators of these attacks should be brought to justice.
PML-N's Sheikh Aftab said that the government should take measures to avert the possibility of recurrence of such incidents in future.
He also asked Interior Minister Rehman Malik about steps taken by the government to protect the polio workers from terror attacks.
Expressing concern over insecurity, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani said that the provincial government should be asked not to resume anti-polio drive until health workers were provided adequate security cover.
However, he said that the government was aware of the situation and assured the house that it was taking all possible measure in this regard.
Condemning the incident, Imrana Saeed Jameel of MQM urged the Interior Minister to apprehend the culprits involved in the incident and award them exemplary punishment.
Pervaiz Malik said that it was the responsibility of the federal and provincial governments to provide fool-proof security to health workers across the country. Bushra Gohar of Awami National Party (ANP) called for taking a stand against the mindset which resulted in targeting the female health workers. On Wednesday, a supervisor of the anti-polio campaign and her driver were killed in one of three attacks which occurred in Charsadda. A polio worker was also injured in an attack in Peshawar, while female workers of the campaign escaped unhurt during an attack in Nowshera.
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