Another policeman slain protecting polio vaccinators

Karachi
Another official of the Karachi police fell victim to target killers while protecting polio vaccinators on Monday when unidentified motorcyclists shot him dead near the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Nazimabad and escaped with his official sub-machine gun.
The number of police officials slain this year has now reached 17, while many others have been injured in attacks and encounters.
Twenty-two-year-old trainee cop, Shahmir Khan, was standing near the ASH for protecting polio vaccinators, who were administering oral polio vaccine drops to children on the fourth day of the vaccination drive, when two men on a motorcycle shot him dead.
Nazimabad SHO Aijaz Lodhi said the motorcyclists approached the policeman, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, and shot him multiple times in the chest.
He fell down because of the impact of the gunshots; however, the assailants realised that they had failed to harm the cop, so they shot him in the head and escaped with his official SMG.
SHO Lodhi could not explain why the policeman was unaccompanied by other cops when 16 police officials had already been killed this year.
ASI Tabassum Ali had fallen prey to a similar attack on January 19 in Orangi Town, where he was protecting a team of polio vaccinators. He is still struggling for his life at a private hospital.
Gulberg SP Chaudhry Asad said the attack was aimed at the policeman, adding that the team of polio vaccinators was not the target of the assailants.
Central Deputy Commissioner Dr Saif-ur-Rehman, who is overseeing the vaccination drive in the jurisdiction, told The News that trained and professional killers had shot the policeman, adding that they could have easily attacked the polio vaccinators but their only target was the cop.
He criticised the police for not taking the security of vaccinators seriously, saying that deploying a trainee cop without backup was a serious flaw in their security arrangements, adding that the incident had spread fear and panic among health workers.
“The police have not been sensitised on the issue; they try to dispose of their responsibility of providing security to polio vaccinators. The cop’s murder is an example of their superficial security arrangements.”
As many as 883 polio workers are scheduled to administer vaccine drops in the 11 UCs, but officials of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation fear that many of them would not turn up on Tuesday morning because of the attack.

MQM condemns killing
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement condemned the murder of the police constable.
In a statement, the MQM Coordination Committee said the murder of citizens, including MQM workers, police, Rangers and other professionals, was continuing on a daily basis but the Sindh government and the chief minister were politicising the issue and only playing the blame game.
The leaders said the terrorists had been given a licence to kill people and they were doing it without any fear throughout the city.
The committee members said the tragedy of Karachi was that the government not interested in providing security to the people or allowing them to take measures for themselves.
The MQM demanded of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar to take serious action to provide security and protection to the people of Sindh.