QUETTA: A Pakistan province has suspended 70 paramilitary troops without pay after they refused to receive COVID-19 vaccines, officials said.
The group were suspended in southern Balochistan province on Wednesday "after repeated written warnings and verbal requests" to get the jabs, said Habib Ahmed Bangalzai, a senior local official.
"They will also not get their salaries," Bangalzai added.
The troops from the Balochistan Levies, a paramilitary force that assists police with law enforcement, have direct contact with the public, the official said.
The move comes after the national government advised all its employees to get vaccinated.
Balochistan authorities were on Thursday due to implement a ban on unvaccinated people entering government offices, public parks, shopping malls and public transport.
Pakistan's nationwide vaccination rollout has been ramped up in recent weeks with more than 350,000 doses administered on most days.
Almost 16 million shots have been given to date, with China supplying most of the jabs.
But concerns about the side effects, coupled with misinformation that the vaccines cause infertility or death within two years, have sparked some hesitancy.
However, in the capital Islamabad, Pakistanis who want to work abroad have this week protested about a shortage of Western-made vaccines AstraZeneca and Pfizer, an entry requirement for most Gulf countries.
Pakistan suspends 70 paramilitary troops for refusing vaccine
https://arab.news/mbjk6
Pakistan suspends 70 paramilitary troops for refusing vaccine
- Officials say the batch of soldiers was suspended in Balochistan 'after repeated written warnings and verbal requests'
- Authorities in the southwestern province have also announced to ban unvaccinated people from entering government offices or using public transport
Officer killed as police repulse militant attack in Pakistan's northwest
- The militants attacked a police station in Bajaur district that borders Afghanistan
- Police have launched an operation to hunt down the attackers, a spokesman says
PESHAWAR: A police officer was killed as law enforcers repulsed a militant attack on a police station in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, an official said on Sunday.
A group of militants attacked the police station in Wara Mamund tehsil of KP's Bajaur district in wee hours of Sunday, according to district police spokesman Muhammad Israr.
“The police fought for more than 40 minutes before the attack was foiled,” he told Arab News. “Additional SHO (station house officer) Gul Mahmood Din was killed, whereas other cops remained safe.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have frequently carried out attacks against security forces and police in the region that borders Afghanistan.
Israr said police have launched a large-scale operation to hunt down the attackers.
Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP in recent years.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil and India of backing militant groups for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny this.
