PAKISTAN: POLIO EPIDEMIC VICTIMS 'MARTYRS' SAYS CLERIC

Islamabad, 22 Feb. (AKI/DAWN) - A cleric in a northern Pakistani village has opposed a foreign-funded polio vaccination campaign of the Pakistan government, urging locals not to take any preventive measures against polio "as those killed during an outbreak are martyrs". "I must tell my brothers and sisters that finding a cure (vaccination) for an epidemic before its outbreak is not allowed in Sharia ," said Maulana Fazlullah during a Friday sermon in Mam Dherai village where he is building a madrassa with local funds.

“According to Sharia, one should avoid going to the areas where an epidemic has broken out, but those who do go to such areas and get killed during an outbreak are martyrs,” he said. The provincial government has launched an anti-polio campaign to run between February 20 and 22 in selected parts of the province, but there have been reports of people refusing to get their children vaccinated.


Sermons like this are influencing people into refusing polio vaccination in many parts of the NWFP. Like Nigeria, Pakistan is another country where clergy is blocking efforts aimed at eliminating fatal diseases like polio. Cases of people misbehaving with polio vaccination staff have been reported from several areas. Recently, a surgeon, Dr Ghani Khan, was killed in a bomb blast in remote Bajaur Agency, causing postponement of the anti-polio campaign, official sources said.

Swat is one area where polio staff is facing resistance, said an official, adding that deeply religious people often resisted things involving foreigners.

Maulana Fazlullah suspects the intentions of foreign agencies involved in funding drives against fatal diseases: “I don’t understand why foreigners would think of our well-being when we see that they are killing Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.” He cited the example of a companion of the Prophet who, he said, was ‘martyred’ during an epidemic.

Maulana Fazlullah - who is the son-in-law of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, leader of the defunct Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat Mohammadi which sought to have Sharia law replace civilian law -- has gained popularity in the villages and hamlets of the Swat province due to his religious teachings transmitted through an illegal FM radio station. His Friday open air sermons attracted large crowds.

The health department also holds clergy responsible for the refusal of the people to get their children immunised against polio in some districts of the NWFP. Last year, 15 polio cases were reported in the NWFP -- seven belonging to the tribal agencies and eight to the settled areas, officials said, adding that in 2007, a 10-month-old was detected with the polio virus in Nowshera.

“The propaganda of the clergy is causing more and more people in Swat, Bajaur, Lakki Marwat and Momand agency to refuse polio drops for their children,” said an official of the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) run by the NWFP Health Department. In the wake of the killing of surgeon Ghani Khan in Bajaur, the polio staff, mostly comprising locals, had refused to go ahead with the anti-polio campaign in the agency, sources said.

Confirming the postponement of the anti-polio drive, an official said the government was faced with multiple obstacles like staff security, inaccessible areas and presence of large number of Afghan refugees.

“Most of the eight people, detected with the polio virus in the settled areas, were of Afghan origin,” official said.

(Aki/DAWN)
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