Dying on the front line of the polio war

SHABQADAR: Jahanzeb Khan sits at a doctor’s clinic in Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) hospital, Shabqadar in Charsadda, collecting files from patients at the outpatient department before assigning them a waiting number.

He wasn’t always in health services; he used to be a farmer before his wife was killed.

Zakia, a lady health supervisor, was gunned down along with her cousin Ayaz Khan, a driver for the national polio programme, on December 19, 2012 by militants. In fact, Zakia was one of eight who died in a string of attacks on polio workers from December 18 to December 19, 2012.

Since Zakia was not technically a government employee—neither was Ayaz—their families only received Rs300,000 each; the compensation paid to heirs of victims slain in a terrorism-related incident.