Daily Times Editorial 23 August 2019

Prime minister as polio ambassador

Prime Minister Imran Khan will himself spearhead the war on polio from November after a recent rise in registered cases in the country, mainly in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where resistance against the vaccinations runs high among parents due to unfounded religious and cultural beliefs. The prime minister has rightly told federal and provincial governments to launch result-oriented awareness and immunisation campaigns. Babar Bin Atta, prime minister’s focal person on eradication of polio, has shared with the PM and some foreign delegates the concerns of the International Monitoring Board about gaps in Pakistan’s vaccination strategy. Apart from such loopholes, the main culprit frustrating efforts to make Pakistan polio-free is propaganda against the vaccination among parents. The main source of propaganda is social media.

It is an encouraging sign that the prime minister himself will work as the ambassador of the polio campaign. Equally worth mentioning are the efforts of Babar Bin Atta who has been using social media platforms to counter the propaganda. Recently, we have seen a series of touching and effective messages going on air (in the form of ads) on mainstream electronic media about the importance of anti-polio vaccines.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has just celebrated three years without any polio cases, which means the African country is officially a polio-free state, leaving behind Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of these two countries, it is very likely that Afghanistan will beat Pakistan in the polio war as in 2019, Pakistan has seen 53 cases so far and Afghanistan 12.

The Bannu region is becoming the hotspot of polio vaccination resistance. Recently, a leader of a traders’ body at a convention announced that they would boycott the vaccination drive if the government did not withdraw certain taxes. Over the years, polio drives have been used as a political tool. The militants of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan killed scores of polio workers only for their political and strategic gains. A polio-infested Pakistan serves their agenda of an internationally isolated country. Adding fuel to fire, a section of local influencers also tried to fan disinformation about polio campaigns. Several parents, under the influence of the propaganda, marked the fingers of their children themselves to avoid vaccination.

The whole nation should stand by the prime minister in the war on polio.

Making Islamabad clean, finally

Islamabad is a very well worked-out city with special consideration for environment and cleanliness. Gradually, though, this city has degenerated into a pack of slums at the cost of its beauty. After a long time, the government has taken an initiative to make it clean and green again. Environment Minister Zartaj Gul Wazir deserves credit for launching this initiative. This is not an easy job. More than anything, it is about changing the lifestyle of the residents of Islamabad. Flooded with uncalled-for controversies is social media on how to purge this city of the menace of plastic bags. These bags are a major cause of making the federal capital unclean and ungreen. They never degenerate, cause cancers, chock drains, damage the soil, result in human and animal deaths and pollute water and air.

In developed countries, cities have got rid of them and life is healthier. However, the problem is public awareness about the issue and changing people’s lifestyles. From a fruit vendor to an upscale super store, everybody uses plastic bags with impunity. Now that the administration is implementing the ban on plastic bags, it is facing an outcry from different quarters of society, though the saner segments are with them. The situation turned awkward when the managers of a busy food outlet resorted to pushing and shoving the staff of Pak-EPA, who were there to make sure that plastic bags were not used.

Thankfully, the city has a deputy commissioner like Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat, who is committed to his job of making people abide by the law in the most trouble-free manner. He is young and full of energy, which makes him stand out among an army of lethargic babus. His convincing skills and profound knowledge of the city and its people have given him an edge over others in ironing out the flaws in implementation of law. Now is the time for citizens of Islamabad to own the city and make the efforts of the environment minister and the deputy commissioner a success. If they are able to present the federal capital as a model, other cities and towns of the country will also fall in line and we all will have a healthier country to live in.