...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...
vaccine into toddlers' pursed mouths to protect them from the crippling disease.
Now the 35-year-old mother is too scared to go to work after masked men on
cycle of violences bumped off nine of her fellow health workers in a string of attacks this week. "I have seen so much pain in the eyes of mothers whose children have been infected. So I have never seen this as just a job. It is my passion," she said. "But I also have a family to look after ... Things have never been this bad." After the deaths, the United Nations
...an organization whose definition of
human rightsis interesting, to say the least...
put its workers on lockdown. Immunisations by the government continued in parts of the country. But the violence raised fresh questions over stability in the South Asian nation.
Taliban insurgency, convinced that the anti-polio drive is just another Western plot against Moslems, has long threatened action against anyone taking part in it.
The turban group's hostility deepened after it emerged that the CIA - with the help of a doctor - had used a vaccination campaign to spy on the late Osama bin Laden
... who doesn't live anywhere anymore...
's compound before he was killed by US special forces in a Pakistain town last year. Critics say the attacks on the health workers are a prime example of the government's failure to formulate a decisive policy on tackling militancy, despite pressure from key ally the United States, the source of billions of dollars in aid.
For years, authorities were aware that Taliban capos had broadcast claims that the vaccination drive was actually a plot to sterilise Moslems.
That may seem absurd to the West, but in Pakistain such assertions are plausible to some. Years of secrecy during military dictatorships, frequent political upheaval during civilian rule and a poor public education system mean conspiracy theories run wild.
"Ever since they began to give these polio drops, children are reaching maturity a lot earlier, especially girls. Now 12 to 13-year-old girls are becoming women. This causes indecency in society," said 45-year-old Mir Alam Khan, a carpet seller in the northern town of Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
The father of four didn't allow any of his children to receive vaccinations.
"Why doesn't the United States give free cures for other illnesses? Why only polio? There has to be an agenda," he said. While health workers risk attacks by turbans, growing suspicions from ordinary Paks are lowering their morale. Fatima, a health worker in the northwestern city of 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.
, said that reaction to news of the CIA polio campaign was so severe that many of her colleagues quit.
"People's attitudes have changed. You will not believe how even the most educated and well-to-do people will turn us away, calling us US spies and un-Islamic," said the 25-year-old who did not give her last name for fear of reprisals.
"Boys call us names, they say we are 'indecent women'." Pakistain's government has tried to shatter the myths that can undermine even the best-intentioned health projects by turning to moderate holy mans and urging them to issue religious rulings supporting the anti-polio efforts.
Tahir Ashrafi, head of the All Pakistain Ulema Council, said the alliance of holy mans had done its part, and it was up to the government to come to the rescue of aid workers.
"Clerics can only give fatwas and will continue to come together and condemn such acts," he said. "What good are fatwas if the government doesn't provide security?" That may be a tall order in Pakistain, where critics allege government officials are too busy lining their pockets or locked in power struggles to protect its citizens, even children vulnerable to diseases that can cripple or disfigure them.