Polio case
PAKISTAN has faced another setback in its ongoing struggle to eradicate polio from the country. A three-year-old boy, a resident of Bannu, has been diagnosed with 2023’s first officially reported poliovirus case. At the moment, it is not clear whether the child had been inoculated or not. A National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio investigation is ongoing in this regard. However, the head of the NEOC has acknowledged that the child was not fully protected; otherwise, he would not have contracted the virus. The geographical location of the reported case would suggest that the child was already at enhanced risk: Bannu is among the seven districts in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa considered a hotbed of polio. Others include Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat, Tank, South Waziristan and North Waziristan. The disease has persisted in this area due to public resistance to vaccination campaigns.
The government and other stakeholders have repeatedly tried to dispel the dangerous myths surrounding polio vaccination drops, which continue to be viewed with deep suspicion in some pockets in Pakistan. The level of distrust is such that vaccination teams, including the security personnel guarding them, are often targeted in deadly attacks in a bid to discourage them from doing their work. Operating under constant fear for their lives, it can become a real challenge for them to do what should otherwise be a very simple task. It is, therefore, critical for the fight against polio to succeed so that dangerous misconceptions about the vaccine continue to be comprehensively disproven and forcefully dismissed. With Ramazan and Eid around the corner, many people from affected areas will be migrating to urban areas and could carry the virus with them. Prominent citizens hailing from areas where polio continues to persist should be made responsible for educating their communities and convincing them to change their attitudes to vaccination. The unvaccinated not only create risks for themselves, but also for everyone they come in contact with.
Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2023
Food out of reach
THE month of fasting is a difficult period for low- to middle-income people across the country because of the impact that speculative behaviour has on food and other prices. This year is particularly tough as people are already experiencing hardship caused by the constantly surging prices of food, fuel, and power as well as rising unemployment levels due to one of the worst economic crises in our history. The situation is already forcing them to make tough calls — from cutting down on food, health and other essential expenditure to pulling their children out of school. Sadly, desperation has led to even more extreme measures, as was illustrated by a recent incident in Karachi where a jobless man poisoned himself, his wife and their two daughters to escape a life of poverty. Unfortunately, such instances may increase.
Meanwhile, short-term, weekly inflation saw a record spike of 45.64pc just a week before the start of Ramazan as millions toiled to put food on the table. Inflation has stayed above 40pc for the first time since August last year. Monthly consumer inflation had already skyrocketed to 31.5pc in February, the fastest in five decades. The rise in food prices is especially difficult for the majority of Pakistanis, and the beginning of the holy month is set to see prices climb to record levels owing to the seasonal impact of increased demand and looming shortages because of speculative behaviour. That would spell disaster for millions as it means an even greater burden on the economically vulnerable and food-insecure segments of the population. Short-term and monthly consumer inflation is expected to climb further going forward as the full impact of currency depreciation, the hike in consumption tax and higher energy costs is yet to reflect in the data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Add to that the Ramazan factor and we have a storm gathering on the horizon for vulnerable groups. The government has announced subsidised Ramazan bazaars to help them. If the authorities wish to help those sections of society that are disproportionately affected by inflation, they must adopt policies to stabilise prices in the short to long term. Unfortunately, Ramazan bazaars are seen to benefit only a limited portion of the people, and that too mostly in the urban centres, while the bulk of the funds allocated are allegedly squandered or stolen by officialdom.
Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2023
Desperate moves
IT seems the Punjab caretaker government has taken its cue from Maryam Nawaz’s recent words. On Friday, the PML-N leader called on the federal coalition government to begin the process of banning the PTI which she described as a “militant organisation implementing a foreign agenda”. For good measure, she added that Imran Khan should be dealt with “like a terrorist”.
Yesterday, while the former prime minister was en route to an Islamabad court in connection with the Toshakhana case, a police operation took place at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Heavy machinery was deployed to smash through the front gate and dismantle barricades erected outside the entrance.
It soon became clear that the federal government too was on the same tack. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told a news channel that the “terrorists” inside Zaman Park had been apprehended and a cache of explosives, petrol bombs and bomb-making material was recovered.
The prime minister, whom his niece had taunted the day before by saying there would be a “question mark on the Shehbaz-led government if it does not go for [initiating the process to ban the PTI]” tweeted that Mr Khan’s “fascist and militant tendencies” had been exposed.
As it happened, the Lahore operation worked to Mr Khan’s advantage. Incensed PTI supporters staged another protest outside Islamabad’s Judicial Complex in his support. The cops responded with tear-gas shelling, which meant Mr Khan could not enter the court’s premises and his indictment had to be postponed.
After the tumultuous events earlier this week during the police’s failed attempt to arrest Mr Khan from his residence, there appeared some hope that a cooling down in the political temperature was on the cards. The former prime minister had responded positively, if obliquely, to Mr Sharif’s offer of dialogue, saying he could talk to anyone for the sake of the country.
Moreover, on the high court’s directive, it was agreed that a Punjab police team would search Mr Khan’s Zaman Park residence as part of its investigation into attacks on law-enforcement personnel when they tried to execute court-issued warrants for his arrest.
The PTI leadership and provincial police also arrived at an agreement to cooperate in the investigation. So what provoked the need for such heavy-handed police action as though busting a terrorist den? The civility on display, the conciliatory moves — so desperately needed — all appear to have gone up in smoke.
Uncertainty once again hangs in the air. What is not beyond any doubt — notwithstanding the unacceptable violence by PTI supporters — is that by succumbing to politics of expediency, the government has shot itself in the foot. Treating a major political leader, that too a principal rival, like an outlaw is short-sighted and reeks of desperation — much like Ms Nawaz’s demand to ban the PTI.
Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2023