Clerics urge parents to ignore propaganda

800 religious scholars term propaganda against polio drops as baseless, say no adverse effects have been established.

PESHAWAR: Religious scholars from all over Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas on Wednesday declared the propaganda against polio drops as baseless and asked people to administer the vaccine to their children.

A meeting of around 800 religious scholars was held at the Islamic Centre Peshawar University under the aegis of Institute for Research and Development, an NGO, where the scholars said that no adverse effect of the polio vaccine has been established by research conducted so far.

Maulana Hamdullah Jan asked religious scholars to play their role in saving children from polio, adding that polio vaccines have been medically tested and no harmful ingredients found.

He asked all clerics present on the occasion to advise people to provide their children with the vaccines once they are back to their towns. He criticised the government for ignoring deserving people in flood-hit areas.

Maulana Dr Sher Ali said that a renowned Egyptian religious scholar Yousaf Al Qaradwai had issued a fatwa to the effect that there were no harmful ingredients in polio drops and Muslims could administer the vaccines to their children Similarly, Maulana Dr Zubair Usmani from Darul Uloom Karachi said their seminary has issued a fatwa after much deliberation over the polio vaccine, inviting people to inoculate their children against polio as there was no harm in it.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative Dr Mohammad Sisay told the gathering that the number of polio victims in Pakistan was alarming as compared to other parts of the world. He said that in the current year at least 103 cases have been reported in Pakistan.

He added that polio was most common in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata and urged religious scholars to play their role in saving children from the crippling disease.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2010.