PESHAWAR:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Barrister Masood Kausar said on Wednesday that most Taliban support the polio drive.
While inaugurating a polio campaign at the University of Peshawar (UoP), Kausar said that it was only a “handful” of Taliban who were against the vaccinations.
He said that polio cases were significantly higher in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) where the literacy rate is low. “The government is working to promote education in those regions,” he added.
He further said that many areas that were previously inaccessible had been made accessible for the polio campaign.
On September 5, immunisation teams went into the previously inaccessible Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. They managed to vaccinate around 32,641children against polio and other fatal diseases such as measles.
Pakistan is one of the remaining three countries in the world that which is affected by polio. In 2011, 45 polio cases were reported in Fata, while this year 16 cases have been reported so far.
The barrister said that polio will soon be eradicated not only from Fata, but from both the tribal belt and K-P if people cooperate with government teams.
Kausar maintained that it was not only a moral and social responsibility to eradicate the disease but also the preaching of Islam to save the lives of fellow beings.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 25th, 2012.
COMMENTS (2)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Mr Governor, you mean that the government,s policies are subject to Talibans approval? It is so painful to read such statements from a man of your status. It seems you were either on a "TRIP" when you made this statement or you have lost the sense of balance.
What's your point, Governor? Don't tell me you are thinking of nominating the Taliban gang leader to be the UNICEF head. Your statement reveals the extent of fear that government leaders have of the Taliban gangsters, something that makes these leaders downplay the danger this cancerous cult poses to the people of Pakistan. If, with all your security details, you have to sing praise of the Taliban, one can imagine what the lower-level government functionaries must be doing for the Taliban. No wonder the cult seems almost inextinguishable. And how do you know all this? Have you been attending Taliban meetings? Do you have any data on how many of these thugs support slaughtering captured Pakistani soldiers and other innocent individuals as if they were cattle? Were it in my powers, I would fire you immediately for doing this volunteer publicity work for the Taliban. Siddique Malik, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.