[BETA.DAWN] IT is a real pity if some of us have to be convinced into supporting something as basic as the administration of polio...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
drops to children. As the harbinger of a new Pakistain and with a state-of-the-art cancer hospital to his credit, Imran Khan
... aka
Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree...
should require no briefing from the Word Health Organisation chief about the threat of polio in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
. Yet, such a WHO briefing was given on Thursday just as, in another manifestation of the challenge posed by heartless elements that are resistant to polio vaccination, a gathering of Pak and international religious scholars in Islamabad issued an edict declaring the polio drops halal. On the day the two news stories appeared, a polio worker died in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
of wounds she had sustained on the country's polio front, as a dire reminder of just how critical the situation is, particularly in KP.
At a distance from where briefings take place and edicts are deemed necessary, both Mr Khan and the holy mans are well placed to act where it really matters. The PTI's support at the grass roots all over Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa should enable it to make a much-needed contribution to the anti-polio drive. This is a statement the PTI chief must make in the interest of the people and his own reputation as a politician who does not like to complicate things and prefers to come up with direct, unambiguous responses. As simple issues go, there is none as straightforward as this one. The failure of the polio vaccination drive puts lives at grave risk and all have a role to play, including PTI workers, the edict-making holy mans in Islamabad, and the Learned Elders of Islam with considerable influence in KP and the rest of the country. These religious scholars must step up to the duty of taking their support of the anti-polio drive right down to the local level. The local mosque, connected to the people and as an institution seeking public good, should take anti-polio campaigners under its umbrella.