ISLAMABAD: A policeman was killed and an anti-polio vaccinator injured in a gun attack in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, police said on Monday, as the South Asian country launched an anti-polio drive to reach 44 million children.
Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five is essential to provide children high immunity against this terrible disease.
The attack took place in KP’s Karak district, when unidentified gunmen riding motorbikes opened fire on an anti-polio vaccination team, according to KP governor’s spokesman Tariq Habib. The deceased policeman, Mohammad Irfan, was guarding the vaccinators. The body and the injured vaccinator were shifted to hospital.
“A large contingent of police reached the spot and cordoned off the area and a search operation has been launched there,” Habib said in a statement.
Pakistan is responding to an intense resurgence of Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) this year, with 63 cases reported so far. Of these, 26 are from Balochistan, 18 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched the vaccination campaign, which will continue till Dec. 22. During the drive, polio vaccinators will go house to house in 143 districts to immunize children under the age of five years, according to the polio program.
“Polio is a dangerous disease which can cripple your children for life. In fact, it can be life-threatening,” Sharif said at the campaign launch. “Only two drops [of anti-polio vaccine] can save your children from being disabled forever. Come and let’s protect the future of our and the nation’s children.”
He said the federation and all provinces were jointly fighting this epidemic and God willing, they would eliminate the disease through their collective wisdom and efforts, thanking vaccinators for their efforts to eliminate the virus despite harsh weather and terrain in far-flung areas.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries in the world where polio remains endemic.
Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s chief health officer said on Nov. 10 an estimated 500,000 children had missed polio vaccination during the last countrywide inoculation drive.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
In July 2019, a vaccination drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was thwarted after mass panic was created by rumors that children were fainting or vomiting after being immunized. This month, Pakistani authorities postponed a planned anti-polio vaccination campaign in the northwestern Kurram district, citing a fragile security situation after weeks of deadly sectarian clashes in the region.
Public health studies in Pakistan have shown that a lack of knowledge about vaccines, poverty and rural residency are also factors that commonly influence whether parents vaccinate their children against polio.
Ayesha Raza Farooq, PM Sharif’s focal person on polio eradication, said on Sunday that all children up to the age of five must be given polio drops.
“Polio vaccine is completely safe, effective and provided absolutely free of cost,” she added.
Policeman killed, anti-polio vaccinator injured in northwest Pakistan attack
https://arab.news/pfdsn
Policeman killed, anti-polio vaccinator injured in northwest Pakistan attack
- The development came as Pakistan launched a nationwide drive to vaccinate 44 million children
- Militant groups in Pakistan groups have frequently targeted anti-polio vaccination teams in past
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia agree to enhance public security, anti-narcotics cooperation
- Development came after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s meeting with Kingdom’s Narcotics Control Director-General Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Qarni
- Naqvi arrived in Riyadh on Sunday to discuss bilateral ties as both brotherly countries look forward to forging closer economic and defense partnership
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in the domains of public security and prevention of narcotics smuggling, the Pakistani interior ministry said on Monday.
The statement came after Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s meeting with Maj. Gen. Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Qarni, who heads Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC).
Naqvi arrived in Riyadh a day ago to discuss bilateral ties and issues of mutual concern with Saudi officials as both countries continue to forge closer economic and investment relations.
During their meeting, the interior minister and the Saudi narcotics control official held discussions on enhancing mutual cooperation in narcotics control, according to the Pakistani interior ministry.
“Both sides agreed on more effective measures under bilateral assistance for narcotics control,” it said in a statement. “The Saudi side offered cooperation to Pakistan in providing the latest equipment for drug detection.”
Naqvi visited various sections of the GDNC, where Saudi officials briefed him on the Kingdom’s narcotics control efforts.
“No country can tackle the menace of drugs alone. This has become a shared challenge for the nations of the world,” Naqvi was quoted as saying by his ministry. “Pakistan will continue cooperation with Saudi Arabia regarding anti-narcotics efforts.”
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong trade, defense and cultural ties, and officials from both nations regularly interact with each other in a number of domains.
On Sunday, Naqvi met with the Kingdom’s Director of Public Security Lt. Gen. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Bassami. He inspected various departments of the state-of-the-art Directorate of Public Security and the Safe City Center.
“During the meeting, it was agreed to activate the joint task force [on public security] between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia soon,” the Pakistani interior ministry said.
Naqvi said that he was glad to see the “excellent” public security mechanism in Saudi Arabia, adding that both sides could benefit from the experience of each other by enhancing cooperation in the field of police training.
Pakistan launches nationwide anti-polio drive amid intense resurgence of virus
- Pakistan has reported 63 polio cases this year, with Balochistan reporting the highest of them
- Pakistan, Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where poliovirus remains endemic
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday launched an anti-polio vaccination drive that aims to vaccinate 44 million children nationwide, amid an intense resurgence of the virus in the South Asian country.
Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five is essential to provide children high immunity against this terrible disease.
Pakistan is responding to an intense resurgence of Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) this year, with 63 cases reported so far. Of these, 26 are from Balochistan, 18 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched the vaccination campaign, which will continue till Dec. 22. During the drive, polio vaccinators will go house to house in 143 districts to immunize children under the age of five years, according to the polio program.
“Polio is a dangerous disease which can cripple your children for life. In fact, it can be life-threatening,” Sharif said at the campaign launch. “Only two drops [of anti-polio vaccine] can save your children from being disabled forever. Come and let’s protect the future of our and the nation’s children.”
He said the federation and all provinces were jointly fighting this epidemic and God willing, they would eliminate the disease through their collective wisdom and efforts, thanking vaccinators for their efforts to eliminate the virus despite harsh weather and terrain in far-flung areas.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries in the world where polio remains endemic.
Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s chief health officer said on Nov. 10 an estimated 500,000 children had missed polio vaccination during the last countrywide inoculation drive.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
In July 2019, a vaccination drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was thwarted after mass panic was created by rumors that children were fainting or vomiting after being immunized. This month, Pakistani authorities postponed a planned anti-polio vaccination campaign in the northwestern Kurram district, citing a fragile security situation after weeks of deadly sectarian clashes in the region.
Public health studies in Pakistan have shown that a lack of knowledge about vaccines, poverty and rural residency are also factors that commonly influence whether parents vaccinate their children against polio.
Ayesha Raza Farooq, PM Sharif’s focal person on polio eradication, said on Sunday that all children up to the age of five must be given polio drops.
“Polio vaccine is completely safe, effective and provided absolutely free of cost,” she added.
US acknowledges Pakistan’s anti-terror financing efforts in 2023
- Pakistan continued to face significant money-laundering and terror financing risks last year, State Department says
- The country conducted a sectoral vulnerability assessment and reported militant groups to law enforcement for action
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities took significant steps to counter terror financing and completed an updated National Risk Assessment (NRA), which included terror financing components, in 2023, the United States (US) State Department said this week.
The South Asian country continued to face significant money-laundering and terrorist financing risks last year, the State Department noted in its country report for 2023 issued last week.
Pakistan assessed 87 militant organizations and conducted a sectoral vulnerability assessment, which revealed that 41 militant organizations had been active in the country with varying degrees of operations.
“The assessment also identified donations and extortion as key sources for terrorist financing, with cash/cash couriers and illegal money or value transfer services as the most common channels, noting that Pakistan’s porous border with Afghanistan was an important contextual challenge,” the report read.
“Pakistan disseminated the assessment to relevant law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders, directing them to implement policy and operational priorities.”
In 2022, Pakistan was removed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing watchdog, from a list of countries under “increased monitoring” for terror financing, following years of rigorous efforts by Pakistani authorities.
FATF added Pakistan to the list in June 2018. The South Asian country, which risked being blacklisted by the watchdog, was removed from the list of countries with vulnerable financial systems after it successfully implemented 34 action points to counter money laundering and terror financing.
Pakistan witnessed a significant increase in the number of terrorist attacks in 2023, compared with 2022, according to the State Department. The government continued to operate “deradicalization” camps offering “corrective religious education,” vocational training, and counseling last year.
“Military, paramilitary, and civilian security forces conducted CT (counter-terrorism) operations throughout Pakistan against anti-state militants in 2023,” it said.
“Pakistan participated in several formal and informal multilateral fora where CT cooperation was discussed, including, the Global Counterterrorism Forum, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.”
Pakistan witnessed an increase of 17 percent in militant attacks that hit the country in 2023, the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) said in its report in January.
This was the third year in a row when the number of militant attacks and consequent casualties surged in Pakistan, according to the Islamabad-based research and advocacy think-tank. A total of 306 militant attacks took place in Pakistan in 2023, including 23 suicide bombings, which killed 693 people and injured 1,124 others.
Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks in its northwestern and southwestern parts that border Afghanistan since the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) called off its fragile truce with the government in Islamabad in November 2022. The militant group is separate from but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban.
Islamabad has blamed Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers for facilitating the TTP and other anti-Pakistan militant groups who launch attacks from their soil. Afghan officials deny involvement, insisting Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.
Pakistan reaffirms resolve against militancy on 10th anniversary of Peshawar school attack
- On Dec. 16, 2014, militants stormed Army Public School in Peshawar, killing 134 children and over a dozen staffers
- In their messages, Pakistan president, premier extend sympathies to families of victims, vow to root out militancy
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday reaffirmed their resolve to wipe out militancy from the country as the South Asian nation observed 10th anniversary of a militant attack on an army-run school in Peshawar, which killed more than 130 children in 2014.
A group of heavily armed militants belonging to the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) entered Army Public School (APS) Peshawar on Dec. 16, 2014, killing 134 children and over a dozen staff members. The incident took place in a high-security area in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The massacre at the school sparked worldwide condemnation and in response, Pakistan reinstated the death penalty after a six-year moratorium and executed many TTP militants as well as launched a military campaign in the country’s northwestern tribal districts to purge the area of TTP militants.
Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in attacks claimed by the TTP since 2007, including an assassination attempt on Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. The country has also seen a renewed surge in attacks since a fragile truce between the TTP and the government broke down in Nov. 2022.
“No amount of time can erase the trauma of the children who witnessed the unfathomable horrors on that day, nor can it ease the grief and suffering of the families who lost their loved ones. As we honor their memory, the entire nation joins me in paying tribute to the bravery of our children, the heroism of the teachers, the sacrifices of their families, and the valor of our security forces,” PM Sharif said on X.
“Let us reaffirm our commitment to building a safer, more secure Pakistan, where no innocent will be harmed, no child will have to live in fear, injustice will be punished and punished severely. This is a promise we must make together. We owe it to the victims of this tragedy, to ensure that their lives were not lost in vain.”
Pakistani authorities also announced closure of schools and colleges in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore on Monday on the anniversary of the deadly attack.
In his message, President Zardari said the day reminded the nation to unite against militancy and increase efforts to eliminate this menace, Pakistani state media reported. He extended his sympathies to the relatives of innocent children, saying that Pakistan would never let militants succeed in their nefarious designs.
“The APS tragedy united the nation against terrorism,” Zardari said. “The history was witness that Pakistani nation did not lose courage in the face of tragedies.”
In recent months, Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, which border Afghanistan, have witnessed a number of attacks by the TTP and other religious and separatist militant groups that targeted security forces convoys and check posts, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers, government officials and civilians.
The TTP, or the Pakistani Taliban, is a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan has frequently accused neighboring Afghanistan of sheltering and supporting militant groups, urging the Taliban administration in Kabul to prevent its territory from being used by armed factions to launch cross-border attacks.
Afghan officials deny involvement, insisting Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.
Pakistani, Bahraini naval officials discuss maritime security, defense collaboration
- Pakistan regularly holds joint exercises with allies to deter piracy, drug trafficking and other illicit maritime activities
- Naval Chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf also met Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa, who appreciated Pakistan’s role in maritime security
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf on Sunday called on the highest civil and military leadership of Bahrain, and discussed maritime security and defense collaboration between the two countries, Pakistan Navy said.
During the official visit, the naval chief held meetings with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, according to Pakistan Navy’s Directorate General of Public Relations (DGPR).
Admiral Naveed Ashraf met the Commander-in-Chief of Bahrain Defense Force (BDF), Field Marshal Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, Commander of Bahrain National Guard, General Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, and Commander of Royal Bahrain Naval Force (RBNF), Rear Admiral Ahmed Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Binali.
“During these engagements, professional matters of mutual interest, including regional maritime security and bilateral defense collaboration, were discussed,” the DGPR said in a statement.
“The [Pakistani] naval chief emphasized the importance of enhancing interactions between the armed forces of both countries through joint exercises, mutual visits, and training exchange programs.”
Pakistan Navy regularly collaborates and holds joint military exercises with allies to increase synergy, promote regional peace and stability and deter piracy, drug trafficking and other illicit maritime activities.
Admiral Ashraf also visited RBNF Ship Manama and the Royal Command and Staff College.
In his address at the Royal Command and Staff College, the Pakistani naval chief elaborated on current and emerging environment in the Indian Ocean region and highlighted the need for a “region-centric maritime security construct,” according to the DGPR.
The visit is expected to further strengthen and expand defense ties between the two brotherly nations.
