Pakistan: Woman polio worker abducted, tortured, killed

Islamabad: The bullet-riddled and severely tortured body of a female polio vaccinator, who was kidnapped from her house in Peshawar in Pakistan, has been found in a field. Salma Farooqui, 30, who played an active part in the anti-polio campaign which was recently launched in the province of Khyber Pahtunkhuwa in spite of being threatened on the phone, was kidnapped from her Gulozai village in the suburbs of Peshawar Sunday, Dawn online reported. [caption id=“attachment_1449569” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A female polio worker in Pakistan. Representational image. AFP.[/caption] Abdul Ghani, Salma’s father, told Dawn that about 12 armed men barged into their house at about 12.45 a.m. Sunday night, tied the hands of all the family members and blindfolded them. When Salma’s husband tried to intervene, he was warned off by the intruders telling him that they would kill his five children. The family was under the impression that the intruders were robbers since they collected Pakistani Rs.10,000 cash and some jewellery from the house, but they took Salma along with them, Abdul added. By the time they raised an alarm, the intruders had already fled from the area. Salma’s body was found Monday on a field on the banks of Shah Alam river in Peshawar. The body was taken to the hospital where the doctors said that it had bullet injuries and marks of torture. She was hit by rifle butts and knives, they added. “We often advised Salma to take care of herself because of threats, but she continued to perform her duty punctually,” her father said. IANS