Polio vaccine campaign gets Taliban support!

In what could be termed as one of the defining moments in the war against polio, banned Pakistani militant outfit Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has announced that it would support the anti-polio drive based on the guarantee that vaccination effort won't be used by the US as an espionage cover according to a report on Dawn.com. They also said that their previous apprehension that vaccination was 'un-Islamic' has been removed.

'If they can convince us that these polio drops are Islamic and the spy agencies are not using it to kill our fighters, we would have no opposition to any vaccination drive which is in the public interest,' TTP spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan told Dawn.com on Friday, speaking via telephone from an undisclosed location.

Pakistan is one of three countries along with Nigeria and Afghanistan where polio remains endemic. Militants in the country's northwest had banned polio vaccine camps and campaigns after it was revealed that the CIA had used the campaign in Abbottabad run by Dr Tariq Afridi as a cover to track down former al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. Ehsan added that their suspicion of the vaccine drive increased after the Abbottabad incident and that the CIA were using it to hunt down its 'Mujahideen'.

'We are ready to support the drive if our apprehensions are removed. We will not oppose it if it is ensured it [polio campaign] is not used for serving the United States and other foreign interests,' he said.

He also denied any involvement in previous attacks, 'We are not involved in attack on the polio teams and the threats given to them. We do have reservations against the drive but we are not attacking them,' said Ehsanullah. 'We will not attack any public welfare institution and non-military installations.'