Date: Friday, October 28th, 2016, 2016
Towards a polio-free life?
Religious scholars in three sensitive districts of Balochistan have managed to persuade parents to vaccinate their children thereby cutting down refusal rates by 80 per cent among the 60,000 families who had refused inoculation. This is good news indeed and it is hoped that all children can enjoy a polio-free life. But while the reduction in polio refusal cases is most necessary, involving religious scholars is a move that should be taken with a pinch of salt. Religion being interlinked with all spheres of public life is barely ever a positive development and can only provide short-term successes. Such initiatives also give mixed messages. While on one hand the state wants to crack down on madrassas, on the other, religious preachers are given an open space for influence.
Earlier, Maulana Samiul Haq, chief of Darul Uloom Haqqani in Akora Khattak, was given the task of countering the Taliban’s anti-vaccine campaign. This particular Darul Uloom has great influence among Taliban outfits and prior to Samiul Haq’s endorsement, he had opposed polio vaccinations on the grounds that the campaign had been used to kill Osama Bin Laden.
Furthermore, pinning down the presence of polio to mere refusals is problematic because the problem has been more of security and lack of access in certain areas. For instance, between 2012 and 2015, nearly 70 health workers were killed during a polio campaign. It is also important to remember that it was the Taliban who had banned polio campaigns in North Waziristan for over two years, which led to scores of children being left unvaccinated who contributed to a large majority of polio cases. Parents should be educated better and provided evidence that supports the need for polio vaccine.
Pakistan has made great strides in the fight against polio. Fourteen polio cases have been detected this year so far, down from 34 in 2015, and 296 in 2014, which was the darkest year for polio in Pakistan. The commitment shown by all authorities in fighting this battle needs to continue.
A commanding narrative
Wherever one looks on print, social or electronic media in Pakistan and immaterial of whatever an individual position may be politically, the narrative is currently dominated by Imran Khan and the political party he leads — Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). No other party has captured as much raw air-time or column inches in both the English-language and the Urdu press and at least one party — the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which is co-led by Bilawal Bhutto — has been reduced to an irrelevance bleating on the sidelines. The PML-N is the party of governance, the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but he is snared in the many entanglements that are attendant on the Panama Papers affair, and much of the current discomfort of his government is of its own making inasmuch as it was unwilling to show flexibility in terms of the terms of reference of any investigation into the aforesaid Papers.
With November 2nd, the date that the PTI is proposing to ‘shut down’ Islamabad on the near horizon, other groups are weighing throwing their hat in the ring in support of the PTI. The clerics of Lal Masjid may decide to, but the Shuhada Foundation clarified on 26th October that they support Imran Khan’s “stance but not his method”. The followers of Dr Qadri equally may decide to support PTI and the die will be cast in the coming 24 or 36 hours. If the PTI can attract either of the two aforementioned they come with their own street regiments in the many thousands. Islamabad could be ‘shut down’ by the sheer weight of numbers called out to protest. On the government side there are police being drawn from across Punjab in support of the police in the capital, around half of whom at any given time are reported to be committed to VIP protocol and security duties. There are avowals by all the protesting parties as to their commitment to peaceful protest. Honest in intent they may be, delivering that intent as a reality is far from being a certainty. Even at this late hour we hope for pragmatism, for moderation, and above all a willingness to compromise — because anything less could lead us all to a very dark place indeed.
Tapping the tourist rupee
Moves are afoot to re-energise the tourism component of the operations of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). There is an operational congruence with the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) which was highlighted in a meeting between the MD of PTDC and representatives of PIA on 25th October. It was revealed that PIA is to start air safaris to promote the tourism industry. The national flag carrier was also said to have restored routes it had abandoned in various parts of the country.
Any improvement not only in the range of services operated by PIA but also in the tarnished image it has acquired is welcome. The ‘safari’ routes would take in Gilgit and Skardu both of which offer some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world, and tourists may be attracted to ‘flight only’ packages, perhaps with enhanced dining options and an on-board commentary. There has been a considerable increase in tourism volume in Gilgit-Baltistan in the last two years, and PIA has found its services booked well in advance to both Skardu and Gilgit, but they are not the only places that it is interesting to fly over. It is well within the realms of possibility that attractive packages can be put together cooperatively by PIA and PTDC using a mix of transport options in the air and on the ground, lacing together a range of destinations that have hitherto been underexploited.
The tourism and leisure travel market in Pakistan is going to expand as the middle class expands, and may be persuaded to spend some of its income in-country if what is on offer is competitively priced and offers a tourist/travel experience that is as good as what may be offered travelling internationally. Such packages are going to be attractive to foreign tourists as well, some of whom are beginning to return as the security situation perceptibly improves. Air-safaris, attractively made and marketed, have the potential to be a profitable niche for PIA — a development nobody is going to complain about.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 28th, 2016.