Anti-polio campaign under attack
Pakistan has been facing terrorism since long, way before 9/11 happened, only at that time it had a different avatar and wreaked havoc in a different manner. However, with the time, the terrorists have changed their tactics, what they haven’t changed is their mindset that is still etched in a misunderstanding that violence will help them win people’s favour. Centuries-old notion of what threatens their self-proclaimed pure form of Islam stands not only in the way of progress in terms of human resource and social development, but also as a stubborn obstacle in dealing with the social challenges of modern times. Anything that does not stand the test of their version of Islam is something they have to wage a war against. But they cannot be any more wrong as attacks on teams of anti-polio campaign have shown.
The militants were already against the idea of vaccination, but ever since the role Shakil Afridi played as member of an anti-polio team in gathering information about where Osama bin Laden lived in Abbottabad, they have made it one of their objectives not to let the anti-polio drive succeed at least in the areas where they can stop it with violence. Since then they have ramped up their attacks on these teams, mainly in the restive areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and even in Karachi. Their recent attacks in Mardan city clearly show how twisted their understating of the teachings of Islam is, and that they would do anything in pursuance of their objective of total domination and subjugation of the innocent public. In one such attack three days ago, one policeman was killed while two were injured, whereas in the attack the other day while no one was hurt, the real victims are the children of these areas where this disease, the polio, has shown a considerable threat to resurface and infect kids of different age, crippling them for life. This while the developed and most of the developing world have been successful in eradicating this disease decades ago.
One of the social markers to gauge a country’s development status is its national healthcare system. But in our case, we won’t be able to improve it if we are unable to manage diseases that have lost their presence in other parts of the world years ago. One way to go about managing this situation is through increased security, but then that could give the militants other venues of venting their frustration. The other method would be to engage the terrorists and make them see the light, by making them understand that healthcare does in no way infringe upon their ideology of Islam or anyone else’s. Moreover, healthcare is a fundamental right of every citizen. Depriving them of this right is basically standing up against the state, something the state has to look into and check it before it creates further problems.
