Talks with Taliban: Polio drops should be on dialogue agenda, says Imran

Says govt should convince Taliban to allow the vaccination of children.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairperson Imran Khan on Wednesday asked the federal government to take up the issue of anti-polio vaccination in the peace dialogue with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),  which has banned immunisation in the tribal areas.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should direct the committee, constituted to hold dialogue with the Taliban, to convince them to allow the vaccination of children in both North and South Waziristan agencies and provide security to vaccinators,” Imran suggested.

He was speaking at a joint press conference with the WHO delegation, headed by its Director General and Global Chief Dr Margrate Chan, at Bani Gala.



“More than 250,000 children from North and South Waziristan agencies and parts of Frontier Region (FR) Bannu, who have been denied vaccines since June 2012 due to ban by the Taliban, should be vaccinated during the one-month ceasefire,” he demanded.

He said majority of the polio cases in the country were reported from North and South Waziristan, therefore, it was the need of the hour to vaccinate these children against this crippling disease  in order to eradicate polio from the country.

The PTI chief linked the killings of polio vaccinators with the incident of Dr Shakeel Afridi, who had allegedly helped the CIA hunt down Osama Bin Laden through a fake vaccination campaign.

“Prior to this incident, anti-polio drives were carried out smoothly almost throughout the country and the lives of polio workers were not at risk. However the killings of health workers and policemen started after this incident,” he said.

Imran said security of polio workers in Karachi was a big issue, adding that there was a need to replicate ‘Sehat Ka Insaf’ campaign – anti-polio drive initiated by the Khyber Pakhtunkwa government – in the city to vaccinate maximum children in a short duration.



“Sehat Ka Insaf campaign has turned out to be a huge success in Peshawar under which 0.6 million children are vaccinated in every campaign which itself reflects its effectiveness,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Margrate Chan – who was on a six-hour polio diplomacy visit to Pakistan – said: “I have met the president, prime minister and Imran Khan and glad to see that they all feel the same for polio eradication and children who are the future generation of the country.”

Chan said she was fully aware of the challenges that the country was currently facing in its fight against the disease, adding that health workers should not be targeted and their security should be the top priority of the government.

“I appeal to the international community to continue its support to eradicate polio from Pakistan in 2014.”

The WHO chief said some of the countries expressed concern over the emergence of polio cases in Pakistan. “Therefore WHO’s Executive Board meeting, which is scheduled to be held in May this year will decide whether to impose travel restrictions on Pakistan or not,” she added.

Meeting with the PM

Earlier the WHO delegation, led by Dr Margret Chan, also called on Prime Minister Nawaz Shari at the PM House. According to a press release issued by the PM secretariat, Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan sought the WHO’s support for global reinforcement of its national polio eradication efforts, especially with respect to vaccine procurement and funds.

“We look towards the global community for support to augment our efforts,” he said, adding that the government would maintain the highest momentum for the drive ‘till polio is completely eradicated in Pakistan and across the globe’.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2014.