A Taliban commander has banned polio vaccines for more than 162,000 children in north-west Pakistan - until U.S. drone attacks in the country are stopped. Hafiz Gul Bahadur said in a pamphlet distributed on Saturday that polio vaccination teams should stay away from the North Waziristan territory he controls near the Afghan border. He wrote: 'We don't want benefits from well-wishers who spend billions to save children from polio, which can affect one or two out of hundreds of thousands.  Harsh: A Taliban commander has banned polio vaccines for more than 162,000 children in north-west Pakistan - until U.S. drone attacks in the country are stopped (file picture) 'While on the other hand the same well-wisher (America), with the help of its slave (Pakistan's government), kills hundreds of innocent tribesmen including old women and children by unleashing numerous drone attacks.' The statement is a severe obstacle to efforts to beat polio in Pakistan, one of only three nations where the virus is endemic. The pamphlet also said spies could enter the region under the cover of vaccination teams to get information for the United States about 'holy warriors'.
It said teams who disregarded his warning would be responsible for any consequences. The polio virus, which usually infects children living in unsanitary conditions, attacks the nerves and can kill or paralyse. Bahadur is believed to have a truce with the Pakistani army, while he focuses on attacks against U.S. and NATO troops across the Afghan border.  Warning: Polio vaccinations for children will be prohibited until the U.S. stops using drones to target Taliban insurgents Some of his fighters have recently been killed in the U.S. drone attacks, which Pakistan's government also opposes. Washington has refused to stop the strikes, which it holds are an essential weapon against militants. It is widely believed in Pakistan that most of the dead are civilians, but villagers living near the sites of a number of major strikes said in a report published earlier this year that a significant majority of those killed were combatants. The region's top health official Mohammed Sadiq said that teams had completed an initial round of anti-polio vaccinations. But he added he would not start another round of the campaign that was scheduled to begin from June 20. He said 162,000 children were to be immunised. Sadiq said they had informed Pakistani authorities and the World Health Organisation about the warning. |