Suspects who attacked polio team in Karachi released on bail

KARACHI: A court on Saturday released six suspects who allegedly attacked a polio team in the port city's Korangi district a day earlier.

The suspects including four women, who were accused of physically attacking the polio workers and snatching their mobile phones, were presented before the judicial magistrate by the police. 

However, the court in Karachi East granted bail to all the suspects against surety bonds worth Rs10,000 each, saying that the provisions included in the case are bailable.

According to the law enforcers, the suspects refused to administer polio drops to the children and the women attacked the polio team in anger.

The police told the court that the suspects also tore the uniforms of the cops. They added that a case has been registered against them at the Korangi police station.

The court also asked the investigating officer to submit a challan within 14 days.

A day earlier, a polio team was attacked in the metropolis, marking another incident of violence against workers deployed to administer life-saving drops to children.

According to the police, when polio workers visited a family in a locality in Korangi to administer vaccines, the family's men and women attacked them.

Two cops were injured and the same number of polio workers also sustained injuries.

The police said that additional personnel arrived at the scene after receiving information about the incident and arrested six individuals, including four women, involved in the attack on the team.

The police further stated that the polio workers and officials, who sustained minor injuries in the attack, were shifted to the hospital.

"The family refused to allow their children to receive the polio vaccination and polio workers were attacked with sticks during the incident," SSP Korangi told Geo News.

The arrested individuals have been identified as Samina, Mahjabeen, Amna, Iqra, Imran, and Sufiyan, he said.

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.

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.

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.