Thursday, October 18, 2012

Polio drive in balochistan

IT is indeed ironic that on the day an advertisement was published in a number of papers proclaiming the `achievements` of the Balochistan government particularly the province`s chief minister two news reports were also printed highlighting the frequent acts of violence that occur in this troubled province. A vaccinator taking part in an antipolio campaign was shot dead on the outskirts of Quetta, while four men belonging to the Shia Hazara community were also gunned down in the Balochistan capital on Tuesday. The frequently targeted Hazara have become Balochistan`s most vulnerable community, while the targeting of the vaccinator is also cause for concern, especially considering that Balochistan is one of the key areas of polio transmission in Pakistan. In the face of such rampant lawlessness, the Balochistan government is hardly qualified to trumpet its `achievements`.

At this point it is not clear if the vaccinator wasshot because of his association with the anti-polio drive, or due to some other motive. What is certain is that the attack affected the campaign, as vaccinations in several parts of Quetta were suspended following the murder. While no major incidents of intimidation of pollo vaccination staff have previously been reported in Balochistan, the authorities need to keep their guard up, for elsewhere in the country opposition to the drive has manifested itself in unambiguously brutal ways. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has banned the campaign in parts of the tribal areas while in Karachi a local anti-polio campaigner was shot dead in July. The attack came just days after a foreign WHO consultant was targeted in the port city; the expert luckily survived. These incidents lend weight to calls that vaccination teams be provided security, especially in highrisk areas. The state cannot allow extremists to violently derail the anti-polio campaign and put the lives of countless children at risk.    

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