Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=138074
Haj to bring trouble for ?anti-polio drive elements?
By by Mobarik A. Virk
9/26/2008
Islamabad
A number of ?ulema? and religious leaders, especially from the NWFP and Fata areas, would be up against a perplexing situation, when they would be asked by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to bring ?Polio Vaccination Certificate? before proceeding to perform Haj, the most sacred religious duty of the able Muslims all over the world.
The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has already directed the Pakistani Ministry of Religious Affairs that pilgrims proceeding to Saudi Arabia to perform Haj, this year must have at least two drops of anti-polio vaccine regardless of age and sex. The ?directive? from the Saudi Government has come following surfacing an unusually high number of polio cases in Pakistan this year, something, which has even alarmed the government in Saudi Arabia.
This year 85,000 pilgrims will go to Saudi Arabia to perform Haj, starting from November 2. The ?National Polio Campaign? in Pakistan confronted strong resentment and resistance, especially in Fata and other parts of the NWFP, when these ?ulema? and religious leaders declared administering the anti-polio drops to children, as ?haraam? and an un-Islamic act, forcing people not to avail a facility to save their children against the dreaded disease being provided by the government for free at their doorsteps.
Not only these ?ulema? and religious leaders ordered people, not to let the anti-polio drops be administered to their children, they even threatened and forcibly drove away the health department teams working in the field to administer anti-polio vaccine, in most parts of the NWFP and particularly in the Fata region. ?Now the same people, many of whom are intending to perform Haj this year, will be up against their own ?fatwas? (edicts) and would find it difficult to wriggle out of the situation because they would be required to take the same anti-polio drops that they had themselves have declared ?haram?, and un-Islamic for the people,? sources working for the ?Pakistan Polio Programme? told ?The News?.
?The ?Pakistan Polio Programme? has faced lots of trouble due to these elements starting from the day the US and Nato forces invaded Afghanistan till 2007. Some of the local religious leaders misguided parents and challenged the writ of the government by spreading totally baseless rumours about the polio campaigns?, said the source pleading anonymity. ?The authorities have started making a database of such elements that would be released to the media as and when these ?elements? would kiss the holy land. Its high time that we let the public know that how some of these people misguided all of them, as a result of which so many children have got infected by the crippling virus,? the sources said.
?There were no less than 27 persons from Pakistan out of the 85,000 that had given fatwa?s (edicts) in the past against the anti-polio campaign and were now using different tactics such as issuing positive ?Fatwas? and that the vaccine is now ?Halal?, as it is being imported from Muslim countries. There are many other cases where some close relatives of these religious leaders, opposed to anti-polio vaccination, are now intending to perform Haj,? the sources told ?The News.?
According to the ?National Polio Programme? sources another three cases of poliovirus infection were recorded from NWFP on Thursday, taking the total number of poliovirus infected children to 26 in the province whereas no less than 16 cases out of these 26 are due to parents refusing the vaccine to be administered to their children. The latest two cases were reported from Swat and Landi Kotal (Khyber Agency).
?The father of a 16-month-old child refused to let his child administered the anti-polio vaccine and the poor soul ended up with polio virus infecting him. Not only he did not allowed his own child to be administered vaccine, he also used to urge people in his neighbourhoods not to get their children vaccinated. I think his son is not going to forgive him for the rest of his life,? the National Polio Programme source said.
Replying to a question regarding the efficacy of the vaccine being imported from some countries, the experts strongly dispelled the rumours saying that the same vaccine was used throughout the world to get rid of Polio, including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Cambodia, which have similar characteristics that the Pakistan programme is facing.
Haj to bring trouble for ?anti-polio drive elements?
By by Mobarik A. Virk
9/26/2008
Islamabad
A number of ?ulema? and religious leaders, especially from the NWFP and Fata areas, would be up against a perplexing situation, when they would be asked by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to bring ?Polio Vaccination Certificate? before proceeding to perform Haj, the most sacred religious duty of the able Muslims all over the world.
The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has already directed the Pakistani Ministry of Religious Affairs that pilgrims proceeding to Saudi Arabia to perform Haj, this year must have at least two drops of anti-polio vaccine regardless of age and sex. The ?directive? from the Saudi Government has come following surfacing an unusually high number of polio cases in Pakistan this year, something, which has even alarmed the government in Saudi Arabia.
This year 85,000 pilgrims will go to Saudi Arabia to perform Haj, starting from November 2. The ?National Polio Campaign? in Pakistan confronted strong resentment and resistance, especially in Fata and other parts of the NWFP, when these ?ulema? and religious leaders declared administering the anti-polio drops to children, as ?haraam? and an un-Islamic act, forcing people not to avail a facility to save their children against the dreaded disease being provided by the government for free at their doorsteps.
Not only these ?ulema? and religious leaders ordered people, not to let the anti-polio drops be administered to their children, they even threatened and forcibly drove away the health department teams working in the field to administer anti-polio vaccine, in most parts of the NWFP and particularly in the Fata region. ?Now the same people, many of whom are intending to perform Haj this year, will be up against their own ?fatwas? (edicts) and would find it difficult to wriggle out of the situation because they would be required to take the same anti-polio drops that they had themselves have declared ?haram?, and un-Islamic for the people,? sources working for the ?Pakistan Polio Programme? told ?The News?.
?The ?Pakistan Polio Programme? has faced lots of trouble due to these elements starting from the day the US and Nato forces invaded Afghanistan till 2007. Some of the local religious leaders misguided parents and challenged the writ of the government by spreading totally baseless rumours about the polio campaigns?, said the source pleading anonymity. ?The authorities have started making a database of such elements that would be released to the media as and when these ?elements? would kiss the holy land. Its high time that we let the public know that how some of these people misguided all of them, as a result of which so many children have got infected by the crippling virus,? the sources said.
?There were no less than 27 persons from Pakistan out of the 85,000 that had given fatwa?s (edicts) in the past against the anti-polio campaign and were now using different tactics such as issuing positive ?Fatwas? and that the vaccine is now ?Halal?, as it is being imported from Muslim countries. There are many other cases where some close relatives of these religious leaders, opposed to anti-polio vaccination, are now intending to perform Haj,? the sources told ?The News.?
According to the ?National Polio Programme? sources another three cases of poliovirus infection were recorded from NWFP on Thursday, taking the total number of poliovirus infected children to 26 in the province whereas no less than 16 cases out of these 26 are due to parents refusing the vaccine to be administered to their children. The latest two cases were reported from Swat and Landi Kotal (Khyber Agency).
?The father of a 16-month-old child refused to let his child administered the anti-polio vaccine and the poor soul ended up with polio virus infecting him. Not only he did not allowed his own child to be administered vaccine, he also used to urge people in his neighbourhoods not to get their children vaccinated. I think his son is not going to forgive him for the rest of his life,? the National Polio Programme source said.
Replying to a question regarding the efficacy of the vaccine being imported from some countries, the experts strongly dispelled the rumours saying that the same vaccine was used throughout the world to get rid of Polio, including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Cambodia, which have similar characteristics that the Pakistan programme is facing.