A suspect has been arrested for allegedly harassing a team of polio workers who were on duty in a Jamshoro neighbourhood, police said.

Jamshoro Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Zaffar Siddiq Chhanga told Dawn.com that local residents allegedly stopped the team, led by health workers Amir Abro and Sanam Mallah, when they arrived in the area to administer polio drops to children.

“The locals refused to let the team administer polio drops and hurled insults at them,” the SSP said. “One suspect was arrested and booked for interfering with government duties upon the complaint of the polio workers.”

A case was registered at Jamshoro police station under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Meanwhile, Jamshoro District Health Officer Imamuddin Khoso told Dawn.com that lady health workers in Jamshoro face harassment while administering polio drops.

He said that during the polio campaign in Jamshoro’s RBB Colony, “a person refused to receive polio drops and hurled abuses at lady health workers”. Videos of the incident also went viral on social media.

“When our polio workers were in the field, they were abused,” the DHO said, adding that the police have arrested the suspect and are taking legal action.

Polio workers under attack

Meanwhile, a polio worker was allegedly raped in a Jacobabad village on Wednesday.

According to Jacobabad Deputy Commissioner Zahoor Murri, the polio worker was allegedly raped on Wednesday in the Allah Baksh Jakhrani village, within the limits of Moladad police station. The DC added that the police arrived at the scene of the incident and transferred the victim to James Hospital under tight security, where her medicolegal examination was conducted.

However, a day after the incident, the polio worker made a statement to the media, claiming she was robbed of her phone and valuable belongings, dismissing allegations of sexual assault.

She said that when she was returning home after administering polio drops to children at the last house on her list, a man robbed her of her mobile phone and money at gunpoint and escaped. The worker testified before a court on Friday that she was raped while on duty, retracting her previous statement and admitting that she was sexually assaulted at gunpoint in Allah Bakhsh Jakhrani village.

DHO Jacobabad Dr Irshad Sarki submitted his report related to the incident before the court, which also suggested that the polio worker “might have been sexually assaulted”.

Meanwhile, six people, including three security personnel, a polio worker, and two labourers, lost their lives, and 12 others were injured in three separate incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur and South Waziristan districts on Wednesday.

The attack on the polio team occurred around midday in the mountainous Mala Said Banda area of Salarzai tehsil on the third day of an ongoing anti-polio campaign.

Police and Rescue 1122 officials told Dawn that the team was on foot, administering vaccines to children, when gunmen opened fire, killing a police constable escorting the team and a polio worker on the spot.

Riaz Ahmad Khan, a spokesman for Rescue 1122, told Dawn that the victims were identified as Constable Luqman Khan, 33, from Haji Lawang area of Khar tehsil, and polio worker Abu Huraira, 25, from Tali village in Salarzai.

In response to the killing of their colleague, police officers in Bajaur announ­ced a boycott of the ongoing anti-polio campaign. The announcement was made in a video clip by scores of policemen late Wednesday evening.

Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress.

In Pakistan, polio workers often face resistance in certain areas, and vaccination campaigns are disrupted by regional instability. However, the government, along with international organisations, continues to intensify its efforts to eliminate the disease, focusing on immunisation drives and raising awareness to ensure polio’s complete eradication.