By Shaheen Buneri

Being himself a victim of polio disease, the Maulana is preaching against administering polio drops to children, saying that there is no room in Shariah

MINGORA: Lack of awareness and teachings of certain religious clerks hindering people in Swat district to administer anti polio drops to their children.

The anti-polio campaign that has a strong support of the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and Government of Pakistan, faces serious resentment in some tribal agencies and settled districts of NWFP including Swat district.

On the last day of the campaign people in Dewlai, Koza Bandai, Bara Bandai, Dherai, Qambar, Charbagh and Guli Bagh villages of the district remained indifferent to the heavy funded campaign and refused to administer Anti-Polio drops to their children.

“On the first day of the campaign about 2400 people refused anti-polio vaccine. There are many reasons for this refusal but mainly the religious sermons of certain clerks on FM Radio channels are responsible for the increasing number refusals”, an official of district health department told this scribe on condition of anonymity.

It merits a mention here that round about twelve illegal FM channels operate in swat valley and almost all of them are used by religious clerks for the propagation of their religious thoughts. Every sermon includes something on girls’ education and anti-polio campaign.

Executive District Officer Health Dr.Faridon said that total 1023 health workers had been deployed in the district to cover the population of 1.4 million people in the district.

“Total 337000 children need anti-polio drops. We are trying our best to reach to the far flung and uncovered areas”, he further said.

When asked about the security situation in the district EDO Health said, until this time no unpleasant-event has happened. The police are cooperating with us on the main check posts but generally it has not provided any security to our teams.

“The people are unaware of the importance of the anti-polio drops. Unfortunately sometimes they believe in myths and endanger the lives of their children”, he commented.

However Akbar Ali, Deputy Superintendent Police Mingora City told journalists that the Police had left no stone unturned to provide security to the polio- teams.

Shir Dil, a local resident said that the campaign was just waste of resources and it aimed at making our children infertile.

“The hospitals have no medicine and lack in treatment facilities; if they really care for us they should invest money there. Why don’t they invest on education and health? He asked.
Referring to the sermon of a religious clerk on an FM channel a district officer said that the religious clerk was telling the people that giving anti-polio drops to their children was against Islam. “The clerk says that if someone dies of this disease he is a martyr”, the official maintained.

The concerned quarters have demanded of the government to launch an awareness campaign in this regard and remove people’s misconceptions about the anti-polio vaccine.

Behroz Khan added;

Wearing a black turban and war fatigues, controversial cleric Maulana Fazlullah met journalists on Tuesday at his under-construction headquarters on the bank of the Swat river.

Apart from so many controversies surround the Maulana, including his opposition to girls education, campaign against polio drops, motivating the youth for Jihad, encouraging men to grow beard and favouring closure of music shops, he is at the centre of criticism for illegally occupying hundreds of Kanals of land on the bank of the river, which is collective property (shamilaat) of Maam Derai and Koza Bandai villages.

Defending his opposition to girls education, the Maulana said that women should not go outside their homes, so there is no need to send girls to schools in violation of “the strict Islamic rule of Purdah”. "The only permission for a woman to go outside is to see a doctor in case of bad health. There is no need to impart engineering and scientific knowledge to women at all," he said when asked whether he was in favour of sending girls to schools even in Purdah.

Being himself a victim of polio disease, the Maulana is preaching against administering polio drops to children, saying that there is no room in Shariah to go for treatment when the disease has not affected some one. Furthermore, he said that polio drops are disastrous for women fertility and expedite the process of puberty of girls."Any one dies of polio is martyr because this is a contagious disease."

People at the site whispered that a large number of outsiders, including Arabs and Uzbeks, Punjabis and militants from Waziristan, were residing with the Maulana. However, the Maulana categorically denied that any foreigner or outsider was living with him.