Express Tribune Editorials 3rd March 2025
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2025 3:23 am
Karachi vaccine refusals
Despite being Pakistan's largest and most urbanised city, Karachi has the highest polio vaccine refusal cases in the country. Recent reports have revealed that out of 42,999 refusal cases, 41,875 were from Karachi and only 1,124 were from the remaining districts of Sindh.
These statistics raise serious questions about a conventionally assumed link between vaccination refusal rates and literacy rates, unveiling widespread misinformed convictions in an otherwise educated region.
The first nationwide polio campaign of 2025 ran from 3rd February till 9th February, vaccinating over 45 million children. However, even after consistent efforts by the Pakistan National Polio Eradication Program, 2 new polio cases have been reported this year in Sindh and Punjab. This leaves Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only countries in the world where wild poliovirus type 1 is still endemic.
A WHO case study identified medical misconceptions as the leading cause for vaccine refusal, followed by religious myths. Most misconceptions are formed due to unsubstantiated claims about children falling ill or even passing away after getting vaccinated – claims officially refuted.
Infertility, impotency and adverse side effects are all wrongly attributed to these vaccines. There have also been incidents regarding local mosques misleadingly labeling polio vaccines as dangerous and calling them a 'Western conspiracy'. While some parents refuse to administer vaccines due to security concerns, particularly in the aftermath of the 2019 Peshawar incident where extremist protesters, provoked by false news, burned down health units.
There is a dire need to organise targeted awareness campaigns and initiatives, such as the Islamic Advisory Group on Polio Eradication, to combat these false beliefs that endanger the lives of innocent children. Releasing statistical reports on our failure to end poliovirus is the first step to creating much-needed urgency, but more robust mechanisms need to be put in place.
Of cross-border infiltration
It's an open and shut case of espionage, cross-border terrorism and sabotage as Kulbhushan Jadhav lingers in Pakistan's imprisonment. The former Indian naval officer, with a pseudonym on his travel documents, was arrested nine years ago on this day (March 3, 2016) from Pakistan's Balochistan province, and subsequently confessed to his unending list of crimes.
Since then, it's a pity that the international community is silent and has failed to take on India for its extraterritorial designs. Though Kulbhushan's case came up for trial at The Hague, the international jurists too were found perplexed in charting a roadmap of relevance and legality.
Perhaps, this has come to haunt with more terrorism plots from New Delhi that was found instrumental in the killing of Sikh separatist leaders in Canada and similar high-profile meddling in the US.
Kulbhushan, the condemned prisoner, sits at the tip of the iceberg of terror fissure whose epic centre is manned and executed by RAW, India's premier intelligence agency. This is no allegation as the Canadian PM and officials of the US Department of Defense are on record blaming India for trigger-happiness in their respective countries.
Last but not least, The Economist and The Guardian, reputed newspapers, have filtered through a plethora of investigative stories to confirm accusations against India of killing more than 20 people inside Pakistan. This charge incidentally is accepted in audacity by Indian authorities too who believe in coercion and intimidation as a policy tool.
Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism for decades, and its neighbours on the east and west have a hand in it. Sleeper cells run and financed by India, apart from influx of unscrupulous elements from Afghanistan in cahoots with BLA, TTP and the likes, have come to bleed Pakistan.
A think tank, PIPS, has documented that there has been an alarming rise in terrorism in the year 2024, with 95% of the incidents concentrated in the restive provinces of K-P and Balochistan. The least that is expected of the global community is to keep a check on Kabul and Delhi, to ensure that terrorist outfits and Kulbhushans do not go scot-free.
Missed targets
The tax collection machinery is once again under the spotlight as it has missed the stipulated target, and is lagging behind Rs606 billion in the first eight months of this fiscal year.
The target for July-February was Rs7.95 trillion. This performance lacunae has many reasons, including an inconsistent approach from the FBR sleuths, a degenerated environment in terms of production and the sluggish trend that is forecasted for growth.
The IMF too is sceptical as it has lowered the country's growth estimate to 3% from its own earlier projection of 3.2%, irrespective of the fact that global economic recovery is on a sound-footing. A slump in exports and pestering political instability are other avenues that are detrimental to a promising economy, soliciting more than ad hoc measures to fix the fox in the woods.
The FBR, which is supposed to be an autonomous revenue generation organ, seems to be infected with meddling and blatant interference from the Finance Ministry. The unceremonious outposting of a grade-20 officer for her rightly questioning the finance minister office's irrelevant demands is a case in point, and hints at the specter of demoralisation that upright officers face in their call for duty.
Thus, it is no surprise that dedication to official chores takes a backseat as officers and lower staff feel content with shoddy work. It is also ironic that on one hand the government is in a revenue crisis, and on the other it has the audacity to expand the cabinet by inducting more cronies for the sake of political appeasement. That culture is prevalent as the donors are wary of corruption trends in the economy, and the lack of accountability that the system endures.
The FBR and other constitutional bodies, including the judiciary, should be free from interference and that is how we can overcome stagnation, parochialism and a sense of disgust in our nationhood. Generating growth, expanding exports and ensuring an attractive environment for foreign investors is the way to go, and not official egoism for flagging an elite culture.
Despite being Pakistan's largest and most urbanised city, Karachi has the highest polio vaccine refusal cases in the country. Recent reports have revealed that out of 42,999 refusal cases, 41,875 were from Karachi and only 1,124 were from the remaining districts of Sindh.
These statistics raise serious questions about a conventionally assumed link between vaccination refusal rates and literacy rates, unveiling widespread misinformed convictions in an otherwise educated region.
The first nationwide polio campaign of 2025 ran from 3rd February till 9th February, vaccinating over 45 million children. However, even after consistent efforts by the Pakistan National Polio Eradication Program, 2 new polio cases have been reported this year in Sindh and Punjab. This leaves Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only countries in the world where wild poliovirus type 1 is still endemic.
A WHO case study identified medical misconceptions as the leading cause for vaccine refusal, followed by religious myths. Most misconceptions are formed due to unsubstantiated claims about children falling ill or even passing away after getting vaccinated – claims officially refuted.
Infertility, impotency and adverse side effects are all wrongly attributed to these vaccines. There have also been incidents regarding local mosques misleadingly labeling polio vaccines as dangerous and calling them a 'Western conspiracy'. While some parents refuse to administer vaccines due to security concerns, particularly in the aftermath of the 2019 Peshawar incident where extremist protesters, provoked by false news, burned down health units.
There is a dire need to organise targeted awareness campaigns and initiatives, such as the Islamic Advisory Group on Polio Eradication, to combat these false beliefs that endanger the lives of innocent children. Releasing statistical reports on our failure to end poliovirus is the first step to creating much-needed urgency, but more robust mechanisms need to be put in place.
Of cross-border infiltration
It's an open and shut case of espionage, cross-border terrorism and sabotage as Kulbhushan Jadhav lingers in Pakistan's imprisonment. The former Indian naval officer, with a pseudonym on his travel documents, was arrested nine years ago on this day (March 3, 2016) from Pakistan's Balochistan province, and subsequently confessed to his unending list of crimes.
Since then, it's a pity that the international community is silent and has failed to take on India for its extraterritorial designs. Though Kulbhushan's case came up for trial at The Hague, the international jurists too were found perplexed in charting a roadmap of relevance and legality.
Perhaps, this has come to haunt with more terrorism plots from New Delhi that was found instrumental in the killing of Sikh separatist leaders in Canada and similar high-profile meddling in the US.
Kulbhushan, the condemned prisoner, sits at the tip of the iceberg of terror fissure whose epic centre is manned and executed by RAW, India's premier intelligence agency. This is no allegation as the Canadian PM and officials of the US Department of Defense are on record blaming India for trigger-happiness in their respective countries.
Last but not least, The Economist and The Guardian, reputed newspapers, have filtered through a plethora of investigative stories to confirm accusations against India of killing more than 20 people inside Pakistan. This charge incidentally is accepted in audacity by Indian authorities too who believe in coercion and intimidation as a policy tool.
Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism for decades, and its neighbours on the east and west have a hand in it. Sleeper cells run and financed by India, apart from influx of unscrupulous elements from Afghanistan in cahoots with BLA, TTP and the likes, have come to bleed Pakistan.
A think tank, PIPS, has documented that there has been an alarming rise in terrorism in the year 2024, with 95% of the incidents concentrated in the restive provinces of K-P and Balochistan. The least that is expected of the global community is to keep a check on Kabul and Delhi, to ensure that terrorist outfits and Kulbhushans do not go scot-free.
Missed targets
The tax collection machinery is once again under the spotlight as it has missed the stipulated target, and is lagging behind Rs606 billion in the first eight months of this fiscal year.
The target for July-February was Rs7.95 trillion. This performance lacunae has many reasons, including an inconsistent approach from the FBR sleuths, a degenerated environment in terms of production and the sluggish trend that is forecasted for growth.
The IMF too is sceptical as it has lowered the country's growth estimate to 3% from its own earlier projection of 3.2%, irrespective of the fact that global economic recovery is on a sound-footing. A slump in exports and pestering political instability are other avenues that are detrimental to a promising economy, soliciting more than ad hoc measures to fix the fox in the woods.
The FBR, which is supposed to be an autonomous revenue generation organ, seems to be infected with meddling and blatant interference from the Finance Ministry. The unceremonious outposting of a grade-20 officer for her rightly questioning the finance minister office's irrelevant demands is a case in point, and hints at the specter of demoralisation that upright officers face in their call for duty.
Thus, it is no surprise that dedication to official chores takes a backseat as officers and lower staff feel content with shoddy work. It is also ironic that on one hand the government is in a revenue crisis, and on the other it has the audacity to expand the cabinet by inducting more cronies for the sake of political appeasement. That culture is prevalent as the donors are wary of corruption trends in the economy, and the lack of accountability that the system endures.
The FBR and other constitutional bodies, including the judiciary, should be free from interference and that is how we can overcome stagnation, parochialism and a sense of disgust in our nationhood. Generating growth, expanding exports and ensuring an attractive environment for foreign investors is the way to go, and not official egoism for flagging an elite culture.