Polio victims, "martyrs?"
What frikkin' PLANET are these people on?

PAKISTAN: POLIO EPIDEMIC VICTIMS 'MARTYRS' SAYS CLERIC 

Islamabad, 22 Feb. (AKI/DAWN) - A cleric in a northern Pakistani village
has opposed a foreign-funded polio vaccination campaign of the Pakistan
government, urging locals not to take any preventive measures against polio
"as those killed during an outbreak are martyrs". "I must
tell my brothers
and sisters that finding a cure (vaccination) for an epidemic before its
outbreak is not allowed in Sharia ," said Maulana Fazlullah during a Friday
sermon in Mam Dherai village where he is building a madrassa with local
funds.

“According to Sharia, one should avoid going to the areas where an epidemic
has broken out, but those who do go to such areas and get killed during an
outbreak are martyrs,” he said. The provincial government has launched an
anti-polio campaign to run between February 20 and 22 in selected parts of
the province, but there have been reports of people refusing to get their
children vaccinated.

Sermons like this are influencing people into refusing polio vaccination in
many parts of the NWFP. Like Nigeria, Pakistan is another country where
clergy is blocking efforts aimed at eliminating fatal diseases like polio.
Cases of people misbehaving with polio vaccination staff have been reported
from several areas. Recently, a surgeon, Dr Ghani Khan, was killed in a
bomb blast in remote Bajaur Agency, causing postponement of the anti-polio
campaign, official sources said.

Swat is one area where polio staff is facing resistance, said an official,
adding that deeply religious people often resisted things involving
foreigners.

Maulana Fazlullah suspects the intentions of foreign agencies involved in
funding drives against fatal diseases: “I don’t understand why foreigners
would think of our well-being when we see that they are killing Muslims in
Afghanistan and Iraq.” He cited the example of a companion of the  Prophet
who, he said, was ‘martyred’ during an epidemic.

Maulana Fazlullah - who is the son-in-law of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, leader
of the defunct Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat Mohammadi which sought to have
Sharia law replace civilian law -- has gained popularity in the villages
and hamlets of the Swat province due to his religious teachings transmitted
through an illegal FM radio station. His Friday open air sermons attracted
large crowds.

The health department also holds clergy responsible for the refusal of the
people to get their children immunised against polio in some districts of
the NWFP. Last year, 15 polio cases were reported in the NWFP -- seven
belonging to the tribal agencies and eight to the settled areas, officials
said, adding that in 2007, a 10-month-old was detected with the polio virus
in Nowshera.

“The propaganda of the clergy is causing more and more people in Swat,
Bajaur, Lakki Marwat and Momand agency to refuse polio drops for their
children,” said an official of the Expanded Programme for Immunisation
(EPI) run by the NWFP Health Department. In the wake of the killing of
surgeon Ghani Khan in Bajaur, the polio staff, mostly comprising locals,
had refused to go ahead with the anti-polio campaign in the agency, sources
said.

Confirming the postponement of the anti-polio drive, an official said the
government was faced with multiple obstacles like staff security,
inaccessible areas and presence of large number of Afghan refugees.

“Most of the eight people, detected with the polio virus in the settled
areas, were of Afghan origin,” official said.

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