Pakistan reports 40 new polio cases as country moves to fight Taliban vaccine embargo



Pakistan's ambition of achieving a polio-free environment by 2017 has never seemed more distant.



As compared to the annual (January to April) surveys conducted in the last decade, the first quarter of this year has thrown up the largest figures of the malaise.



Over 40 cases have surfaced in North Waziristan, where the Taliban embargo on vaccines threatens children.



Propaganda: The Taliban have promoted an extremist anti-immunisation campaign in Pakistan, claiming that combating polio in this way is a form of western indoctrination

Nevertheless, the country has spent a fraught three days as it struggles to assuage warnings of travel bans and the WHO's stringent polio restrictions. To the point that the Imaam-e-Kaaba is expected to enlighten fanatic forces who are bent on waging a war against immunisation programmes.

The cleric's endorsement is likely to lend a new lease of life to the polio prevention initiatives.

Meanwhile, there has been an emergence of a plethora of potential measures.



Punjab's partiality surfaced with the plan to make vaccinations compulsory for all entries into the province.

Travel agents and certain embassies know that, with an export of over 500,000 tourists in the summer season, a blanket ban is hardly a possibility but steps to curtail the virus will see a firm hand.



But Pakistan is one of the globe's three polio-prevalent countries with its polio-virus strains being traced in other countries such as Syria and Egypt.

And unless it thwarts the polio conundrum, Saudi Arabia will not hesitate to impose curbs on Hajj pilgrims.



Today, a travel ban spells doom for Pakistan's economic health, local tourism and opportunities for education and health.



The way forward is an impartial and aggressive confrontation augmented with foolproof logistics.

