FIR registered against man for 'harassing' polio worker in Karachi

KARACHI: A first information report (FIR) has been registered against a man in the port city's Surjani Town for allegedly harassing a polio worker, it emerged on Saturday.

In a case registered on December 18 at Surjani Police Station, a female polio worker said that a man exposed himself to her while she was administering polio drops at a flat in the afternoon.

Pakistan has seen a surge in polio cases this year, recording 64 this year compared with six in 2023, and the latest case was also recorded in Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital.

Following the complaint, the police said that they had launched an investigation. The case has been lodged against CrPC Sections 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 509 (insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment).

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic and the vaccination teams frequently come under attack, which at times also results in the deaths of polio workers and security personnel.

The development comes on the heels of a polio team being attacked in a slum area of Karachi's Korangi, which injured two police personnel and the same number of polio workers.

The Korangi family living there initially argued with them, refusing to allow the children to be vaccinated. After a heated exchange, the men and women in the house resorted to violence against the anti-polio team comprising Saba, Rabia and Dr Khalid, accompanied by policemen, namely Taufiq, Jahangir and a lady police constable Aniza Naz.

The family members manhandled the team and also used a shovel to attack them. The family tore the police officers’ uniforms, slapped them and snatched their mobile phones.

Upon receiving the information, a large contingent of police arrived at the scene and arrested the suspects. The arrested women were identified as Samina, wife of Sheena Khan, Mehjabeen, wife of Suleman, Amna, daughter of Naseem Gul, and Iqra, daughter of Sheena Khan while the male family members who were taken into custody were identified as Gul Imran and Sufiyan.

The federal government had this Monday launched a four-day campaign that aimed at covering 143 districts across the country, with over 400,000 polio workers going door-to-door aiming to immunise more than 45 million children over the age of five.

"I appeal to all parents across Pakistan to fully cooperate with the campaign, vaccinate their children against polio to protect them from this disease permanently," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said during the campaign launch, days before the latest attack.

Polio can easily be prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of vaccine, but health workers risk their lives to save others. Scores of polio vaccination workers and their escorts have been killed over the years.