An All Parties Conference (APC) has been called on December 19 at Islamabad in view of the recommendation by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to clamp travel restrictions on passengers travelling from polio endemic countries including Pakistan. The APC would be convened by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development (PILDAT) in cooperation with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
Announcing the APC, PILDAT officials said that despite a drop in the number of confirmed polio cases in Pakistan as compared to 2011, 56 confirmed cases have so far been reported in Pakistan during the current year. Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pishin, Qilla Abdullah and Quetta districts of Balochistan and Gaddap Town in Karachi have been named as some of the last existing polio sanctuaries in the world.
Nigeria and Afghanistan were the only other two polio endemic countries in the world. India, which used to be the fourth polio endemic country until a year ago, had managed to control the menace and after non-reporting of even a single polio case during the past one year, the country had been declared as a polio-free country.
Meanwhile, the PILDAT/UNICEF have extended invitation to 16 major political parties represented in the current or the previous Parliament to join the APC including Awami National Party (ANP), Balochistan National Party – Mengal (BNP-M), Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JIP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Nazriyati), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Samiul Haq Group (JUI-S), Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan Noorani (JUP-N), Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam-Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), National Party (NP), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and Qaumi Watan Party.
A majority of the parties have accepted the invitation and confirmed their representation at the highest or second highest level in the conference.
The PILDAT/UNICEF had stressed in the APC invitation that the current polio crisis in the country required an across-the-board political consensus if the target of polio eradication was to be achieved. The APC was being organized to facilitate across-the-board political support for eradicating polio, to encourage political parties to recognize the magnitude of the polio crisis facing Pakistan, include specific commitments to eradicate polio in their upcoming election manifestos and to facilitate signing of a joint declaration/pledge to eliminate this crippling disease and reiterate collective political commitment for a Polio Free Pakistan.
