| 22 April 2004 | Thursday | 01 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
Not quite free yet
New anti-polio drive
Delegates to a UN-sponsored international seminar in Islamabad were told on Tuesday that seven regional countries have joined hands to curb the drug trade. These include Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.
The move has been necessitated in view of the rising opium production in Afghanistan and its increased smuggling to the Gulf countries and the world at large. Prior to this, a similar agreement on drug trafficking was reached last month between Afghanistan and its six immediate neighbours - Pakistan, Iran, China, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
All this is good, but the root of the problem lies in the very heartland of Afghanistan, which has emerged as the single-largest producer of opium, with its poppy crops providing two-thirds of the world's narcotics supply.
Afghanistan's neighbours can at best help block passage of drugs through their territory, but the real action required is to stop the cultivation of poppy at its source.
The latter is a difficult task, considering the fact that the Afghan government has virtually no control over the warlords engaged in poppy cultivation. The total worth of the opium out of Afghanistan last year alone was estimated at $2.3 billion.
UN sources say that farmers engaged in poppy cultivation are protected by Afghan warlords, earning 10 times the amount paid in salaries to the law enforcement personnel tasked to stop poppy cultivation.
The warlords have well-armed private militias that are capable of resisting the law enforcement agencies. In the words of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the problem, if left unchecked, could well "destroy" his country.
The warning was addressed to the delegates of the two-day international donor conference held in Berlin last month, which pledged $8.2 billion in aid for Afghanistan over the next three years.
The money, the Afghan government argued, would help introduce economic alternatives to poppy cultivation and enable Afghan farmers to switch to other cash crops such as beetroot, corn and wheat.
The fact remains that because of the fierce resistance put up by the warlords, the Afghan government has not been able to extend its writ beyond certain cities, much less over the country's poppy growing areas spread across northern and western Afghanistan.
This the Karzai government cannot do on its own. Besides financial assistance and promises to hold election in September, it needs a will and military support from the international community to help enforce the law where none has existed for decades. The world community, particularly the US and the Nato-backed International Security Assistance Force, which already have troops in Afghanistan, need to do more to extend and enforce Kabul's writ over the provinces.
The scope and mandate of the ISAF needs to be extended to tackle the multi-faceted security and drug-related problems faced by Afghanistan. The country has seen little in terms of reconstruction or meaningful governance in the aftermath of the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2001.
The warlords and their militiamen who run the drug trade need to be tamed and made to obey the laws of the land for any semblance of normality to return to Afghanistan. Unless that happens, stopping poppy cultivation and drug trafficking will remain a formidable challenge.
Not quite free yet
Israel's nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu is out of jail, though he is still not a free man: as was expected, Israel has placed restrictions on his movements. He cannot leave the country, own a passport, talk to foreigners, or be seen anywhere near a sea port or airport.
The precise logic behind these restrictions is not clear. But one reason could be to stop Mr Vanunu from becoming an icon round whom peace lobbies could gather to advance the cause of a world without nuclear weapons.
While nuclear disarmament is a worldwide movement, Israel has reasons to be particularly apprehensive of it, because it is the Middle East's only country that has weapons of mass destruction.
Mr Vanunu's crime was that he annoyed both Israel and its patrons by exposing Tel Aviv's clandestine nuclear programme. Consequently, he was abducted in a cloak and dagger operation, brought to Israel and sentenced to 18 years.
A brave man by any standards, Mr Vanunu took photographs of sensitive material while working in Israel's Dimona nuclear plant and gave them to a British newspaper. In jail he was treated, in his words, "harshly".
Yet he remains defiant. Immediately after his release, Mr Vanunu said Israel did not need nuclear weapons and that the Dimona nuclear reactor should be thrown open to inspections. He wants to go to the US, get married and start a family.
However, because of the restrictions, he cannot exercise these fundamental rights. A recipient of several peace awards, Mr Vanunu has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Given Israel's clout in such bodies, it is unlikely that he would get this coveted award.
Nevertheless, by revealing the truth about Israel's WMDs, Mr Vanunu has done great service to the cause of world peace. One hopes that even if he does not get a Nobel Prize, the international community will ensure that he is allowed to freely campaign for peace and disarmament - a cause close to the hearts of millions of people.
New anti-polio drive
The launch of a new drive against polio in Sindh comes at a time when concerted efforts are being made to banish this disease from Pakistan by the end of the year. Pakistan is one of eight countries in the world today where polio cases have been reported in recent years, but what is encouraging is that the number of reported polio cases has dropped from 324 in 1998 to 99 in 2003.
Worrisome, however, is the fact that 75 per cent of all cases are occurring in three countries, of which Pakistan is one. The problems that have affected the anti-polio drive's overall success have been the inability of the health staff to access people in remote areas and the challenge to maintain the efficacy of the polio vaccine, especially when transporting it over long distances.
Strict monitoring is required to ensure that the anti-polio drive covers the entire country and that those inoculated are then given the repeat doses as required. Attention also needs to be paid to instances where the polio drops have not had their desired result because of the inefficacy of the vaccine or for lack of the follow-up doses. A system to follow up on inoculated children must be in place.
Officials say that while they have been successful in checking the spread of virus transmission in northern Sindh and southern Punjab, where previously many cases were detected, there are now reports of an increase in polio cases in remote areas of the NWFP and FATA.
This should be tackled on a war footing. Finally, the efforts of the government and health workers would be in vain if the polio vaccines lose their potency for lack of storage in prescribed temperatures.
Due care should be taken so that the "cold chain" is not compromised. The momentum being gained towards the goal of total eradication needs to be maintained and not broken at any stage. That calls for the current campaign to be truly nation wide and effective.