Pakistan’s Imran Khan threatened over polio remarks
Cricket icon turned politician Imran Khan received threats from Islamist militants following remarks over polio vaccinations in Pakistan's restive tribal areas
Pakistani opposition leader and former cricket hero Imran Khan has been threatened by militants after criticising attacks on polio vaccination teams, his party said on Thursday.
Khan on Wednesday declared polio workers as soldiers of Islam and said those attacking them were not doing any justice to humanity, Islam or Pakistanis.
Pakistan is one of three countries in the world where polio remains endemic and efforts to stamp it out have been badly affected by attacks on health workers inoculating children.
“Mr Khan received a threat from Ansarul Mujahideen over his remarks over [the] anti-polio campaign,” Shireen Mazari, a senior member of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party told reporters.
Ansarul Mujahideen is a little-known militant group linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the umbrella Taliban faction in Pakistan.
Northwestern Pakistan, particularly the lawless tribal regions along the Afghan border, is a hotspot for the highly-infectious crippling disease.