Saving the future: PTI chief launches ‘massive’ campaign to eradicate polio

Holds news conference with JUI-S chief Samiul Haq, criticises government’s inaction on Taliban peace talks .

NOWSHERA:

Extending his support to violence-ridden polio campaigns in the country, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Wednesday launched a vaccination drive in Civil Hospital Akora Khattak, Nowshera.

The world will close its doors on the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) if the spread of polio is not curbed, said Khan while launching the campaign he maintains to lead.



Khan said if the crippling disease was not dealt with on time it would keep spreading and Pakistanis would not be able to go abroad and work which would put a dent in the economy.

“Pakistan is among the few countries where polio still exists while the rest of the world has eliminated it. The future of our children depends on its eradication,” said Khan.

Claiming the disease can be eradicated from the country within three months, the PTI chief launched a “massive campaign to put an end to it.”

Khan lauded the efforts of those who are fighting polio in the country, saying the entire nation stood with them in support. He termed those who kill polio workers and police officials escorting vaccination teams “anti-state elements and enemies of the nation.”

Addressing journalists later at a joint news conference with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami chief Samiul Haq, Khan said those who are killing innocent workers and police officials are rendering heavy losses to the nation, and Islam.

Peace talks

The PTI leader said he had been proposing negotiating with the Taliban since long, however, before the dialogue could begin, the United States conducted drone strikes that sabotaged the process. “After this, PTI decided to halt Nato supply lines running through Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but the federal government didn’t take a single step for peace,” said Khan.

Maulana Samiul Haq said the centre was not serious in launching a dialogue with the Taliban which is why it had not taken any concrete step as yet.

The federal government is only taking care of its own interests and has nothing to do with the people, he claimed.

“I am disappointed in Islamabad now,” added Haq, saying the federal government should let the provincial government chalk out the negotiation strategy.

Haq added the Taliban’s foremost demand is to stop drone strikes, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which are against the sovereignty of Pakistan.

The JUI-S leader himself offered to play the role of mediator between the Taliban and the government for talks.

K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and PTI Secretary General Jahangir Tareen were also present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2013.