In a concerning development from Dera Ismail Khan, two officials involved with a polio vaccination team have gone missing while returning from their duties. The disappearance occurred in the Kot Daulat area of Kulachi tehsil. The missing individuals are Mubashir Hassan, a polio team officer, and Jumma Khan, a vaccination supervisor, both belonging to Hathala union council.
Contact with the two men was lost on Wednesday after they completed their vaccination rounds and were heading back. Following a complaint lodged by Sakhi Jan, the brother of one of the missing officials, police have registered a case alleging abduction. Authorities have launched a comprehensive search operation and are investigating various angles to locate the missing men and understand the circumstances of their disappearance.
This incident adds to the heightened security concerns for polio teams in regions such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where vaccination efforts have faced violent opposition. Notably, just two days prior, two policemen guarding an anti-polio team were killed in an attack in Nushki district, Balochistan. The policemen, Muhammad Yasir and Abdul Rauf, were ambushed by unidentified armed assailants in Killi Jamalabad while protecting the vaccination team. The attackers fled after the shooting, taking the officers’ weapons with them.
Following the attack, the area was sealed off and a search was initiated to apprehend the perpetrators. Balochistan Interior Minister Mir Ziaullah Langau condemned the incident and requested reports from the police chief and additional home secretary. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also expressed condolences to the families of the slain officers. Balochistan Home Department adviser Babar Yousafzai emphasized that safeguarding polio teams is a mutual responsibility of both the state and society. Meanwhile, Health Minister Bakht Muhammad Kakar reaffirmed that such attacks will not deter efforts to eliminate polio. He highlighted that Balochistan has not recorded a polio case in the past 22 months, underscoring the government’s commitment to protecting children and continuing vaccination campaigns.
Polio vaccination teams have frequently been targeted in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with security personnel assigned to protect them also facing attacks. These challenges persist as Pakistan carries out its nationwide anti-polio campaign from September 21 to 27. Approximately 31 million children across the country are slated to receive the oral polio vaccine during this period, with security forces deployed in areas where threats to vaccination teams are prevalent.
In Punjab, over 6.1 million children have been vaccinated in the first three days of the campaign. Major cities such as Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Multan reported coverage of more than 900,000, 400,000, and 700,000 children respectively. Khalid Parvez, head of Punjab’s Emergency Operations Centre, announced that the campaign’s final day in nine districts would be Thursday, while Lahore’s campaign will extend for seven days.
Similarly, Sindh’s sub-national anti-polio drive entered its fourth day, vaccinating over 8.59 million children out of a target of around 10 million. The province’s Emergency Operations Centre urged parents and guardians to cooperate with vaccination teams and advised families traveling during the campaign to contact the 1166 helpline for vaccination assistance.
These recent incidents highlight the ongoing security risks faced by polio workers and their protectors as Pakistan intensifies efforts to eradicate the disease. So far in 2026, the country has reported four cases of wild poliovirus, underscoring the critical nature of these vaccination campaigns.
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