Pakistan's battle against Polio - Another setback

In its battle against polio, Pakistan seems to move one step back for each two steps it takes forward. It was driven back quite a few steps again on Wednesday by the suicide bombing that took place outside a Unicef-run anti-polio centre near Quetta. Fifteen people were killed, 12 of them policemen and one a member of a paramilitary force. This attack sets us back despite the successes Pakistan has had over the past year in its battle against polio – with only 51 cases confirmed in 2015 as compared to 306 the previous year. As we could have predicted, the pattern seen during the attack is a familiar one. Two separate militant groups have each claimed responsibility for what the police are confirming was a suicide bombing using a huge dose of explosives. The attack occurred just as a police vehicle entered to protect vaccinators setting out to vaccinate children against polio across Balochistan. Similar deadly attacks have held back the anti-polio drive in the country for years. This is one of the reasons Pakistan remains an endemic country.

If we are to break out of this bracket, we will need to break away from the hold exerted by extremist groups, such as the Taliban and Jundullah, which have said they have acted against the vaccinators because they there were Western agents involved either in spying or in causing harm to children. The issue of similar attacks has continued now for years. It is an extremely grave one, denying children the safety that a few drops of amber liquid can so easily provide. The fact that the matter has become such a major one in our country is disturbing. There has obviously been a huge official failure, aggravated by the mishandling of cases such as the Dr Shakil Afridi affair which since 2011 has created further complications. Security alone is not the solution. The protectors themselves have come under attack again and again, as we saw once more in Quetta. It is mindsets that must change. The increased refusals from parents witnessed last year even in major cities are disturbing. They tie in to militant actions and the ideas that feed them. We need to fight back harder, much harder. We owe this to our children and to a country that continues to suffer in so many different ways because it has been unable to defeat a preventable disease.

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