Pakistan: Anti-polio drive held hostage

Daily Times

Preventing children from receiving a vaccine that saves them from paralysis and deformities, i.e. the anti-polio vaccine, exemplifies extreme inhumanity. The Taliban have been campaigning against polio vaccinations since 2007, painting it as a conspiracy hatched by the west against Islam in its bid to render Muslims infertile. Mullah Fazalullah was the originator of this theory. Anti-US sentiment was fuelled further when Dr Afridi helped the CIA hunt and get Osama bin Laden through a fake vaccination campaign in May 2011. Taking their cue from this incident, prominent Taliban leaders like commander Mullah Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur have decided to ban polio vaccinations in their areas as well. They are convinced that the vaccinators do not only vaccinate their children but also supply their DNA to the western spy agencies so that they could attack them with precision using drones. The North Taliban Shura or Supreme Council has also ordered people to stay away from polio vaccination campaigns. This ban will put the lives of 241,000 children under the age of five in two of the seven Agencies of the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) at stake. Since early this year, out of 22 polio cases reported in Pakistan, 11 were found in FATA, with nine in Khyber Agency alone. Beside Afghanistan and Nigeria, Pakistan is the only country still suffering from the scourge of polio. The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about the situation since it is not only Pakistan that is at risk, the fear of the virus spreading beyond the country’s borders is equally worrisome. Pakistan launched its first initiative against polio in 1994 and by 2005 Pakistan only had 28 reported cases of polio, down from 1,155 in 1999. The downturn in the polio drive is mostly attributed to Talibanisation in the tribal areas, but the situation in other parts of the country is equally grim. This year, out of 22 cases, 11 were found in different parts of Pakistan. Lately, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab have started prosecuting parents for denying polio vaccination to their children. Afghan refugees will be deported if they resist the vaccinators. The government is trying to engage tribal elders in Khyber Agency along with religious scholars to do away with the misconceptions of parents that polio vaccination is a western conspiracy. Now that pressures are mounting on Pakistan to eradicate the menace that has the potential of a spillover to other parts of the world, the government is belatedly gearing up its efforts, which have been dismal in the past, leading to the re-emergence of polio with a vengeance.