Doors for polio vaccines closed in Waziristan

[zimmick]

MIRANSHAH: Pakistani tribesmen endorsed a Taliban ban on polio vaccinations Wednesday, closing the door to the prospect of any child being vaccinated in North Waziristan as part of a nationwide campaign.

Officials had pinned their last hopes of inoculating children in the northwestern district on talks with tribesmen, which were successively delayed until Wednesday, the last day of the nationwide campaign.

“Polio vaccination will be banned until drone attacks are stopped,” tribal elder Qadir Khan told a gathering of more than 200 elders and Islamic scholars in Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan.

“Drones martyr so many children, while polio afflicts one or two out of hundreds of thousands,” said tribal elder Maamoor Khan.
North Waziristan administrator Siraj Ahmed Khan said he had sought to convince the tribesmen to accept the vaccinations for the disease, which leaves children crippled for life.

“Polio is rampant in tribal areas and government desires to prevent its spread,” Khan told the meeting.

The polio battle exemplifies the government’s limited writ over the tribal belt, which Washington has called the most dangerous region on Earth as a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda.

Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur, whose followers are fighting Western troops in Afghanistan, and the Pakistani Taliban banned vaccinations in North and South Waziristan, risking the health of 240,000 children.

They demanded an end to US drone strikes and condemned the campaign as a cover for espionage. A Pakistani doctor was jailed in May after helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden using a hepatitis vaccination programme.

Officials said that a further 110,000 children in the tribal district of Khyber also risked going without the vaccine, because of fighting between government troops and warlord Mangal Bagh.

The prime minister’s office told AFP that the campaign would be extended until Thursday and Friday in the rest of Pakistan, but said there had been “no change” on the situation in Waziristan.

The highly infectious disease affects mainly the under-fives and can cause paralysis in a matter of hours. Some cases can be fatal.
The Lancet medical journal has said vaccination problems last year led to Pakistan’s highest number of polio cases in a decade, 198, compared to 144 in 2010.

 

[JanjaWeed]

“Polio vaccination will be banned until drone attacks are stopped,”

What a pathetic & inhuman excuse? Innocent childrens are getting punished from both ends for no fault of their own! Can tribal elders guarantee that they can cure polio affected kids once the drone strike stops?

 

[lightoftruth]

“Polio vaccination will be banned until drone attacks are stopped,” tribal elder Qadir Khan .

sick mentality .

 

[zimmick]

What a pathetic & inhuman excuse? Innocent childrens are getting punished from both ends for no fault of their own! Can tribal elders guarantee that they can cure polio affected kid once the drone strike stops?

Can we expect any better from them?...once again putting the lives of innocent children as a buffer for their own nefarious activities...and all in the name of religion!

 

[Patriot]

Enough negotiations with them - Now use force.I don't know State of Pakistan cannot establish government writ our Wazrisitan - This is not 18th century where these trible jirgas (Mockery of justice) can have a free ride.I fukin hate these tribal jiragas and other justice system.

 

[VCheng]

What a pathetic & inhuman excuse? Innocent childrens are getting punished from both ends for no fault of their own! Can tribal elders guarantee that they can cure polio affected kids once the drone strike stops?

Like I said elsewhere:

It remains true since time immemorial that children and women pay the worst costs for war.

 

[Rahil khan]

Hats off to splendid efforts of Dr Shakeel Afridi. After all he was successful for his purpose of launching Polio vaccination campaign in Abbotabad. But honestly, now who can convince the vast uneducated population of tribal areas, that its not any sort of hidden campaign. Now the small children will be used as bargaining items for personal interests. SHAMEFULLLLLLLL

 

[Karachiite]

Pakistan has a bright future in the Paralympics.

 

[jayron]

Don't these guys think vaccinating is interfering withdrew of a person written by God? These nut jobs conflict themselves all the time. If your fate is God written, why would he punish you of you fo something bad? Isn't it a part of his design too?

 

[p(-)0ENiX]

Utterly retarded! Do these retards actually believe that it is justifiable to risk the lives of children due to the paranoia of a "supposed" espionage operation?

It's time for the government to take some measures to ensure that the children get vaccinated. Polio must be eradicated from Pakistan. The approval of a bunch of tribal retards isn't necessary & nor should it ever be required.