The ambassador, who met the UN Secretary General, in the wake of Tuesday's fatal attacks on anti-polio health workers in Karachi and Peshawar, cited statements by both President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Asharf, in which both leaders strongly condemned the incident and took serious notice of this inhuman act.
At a briefing, the UN Spokesperson Tuesday said, the Secretary-General joins the World Health Organisation and Unicef in condemning these senseless and inexcusable attacks on health workers. Ambassador Khan apprised the Secretary General that the President had directed all the concerned authorities to co-ordinate with the national polio eradication teams and provide them foolproof security so that they could continue the campaign without any hindrance. The president, he added, had urged the provincial governments for ensuring safety and security of the workers involved in this noble cause, a news release said.
The Permanent Representative also told the Secretary General of prime minister's serious concern over the attack on polio workers in Karachi and Peshawar. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation and Unicef in their statements, have expressed their strong commitment and support to the Government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan in efforts to rid the country of polio and other diseases.
Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon commended government of Pakistan's efforts for the eradication of polio from Pakistan. The ambassador also mentioned strong condemnation by Ms Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan's Ambassador for Polio Eradication, of the violence against polio workers that killed female workers and a fourteen-year old girl in Pakistan Tuesday. All involved in the polio campaign are selfless volunteers, they do this to save lives, and they do this to save Pakistan.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (Unicef), have condemned the multiple attacks that have killed six health workers in the past 24 hours in Pakistan, adding that those killed were among thousands who work selflessly across Pakistan to eradicate polio. They further said that such attacks deprive Pakistan's most vulnerable populations, especially children of basic life-saving health interventions.