PESHAWAR/MIRAMSHAH, July 21: Displacement of people in central Kurram Agency due to military operation has proved to be a blessing in disguise for children as thousands of them have been administered oral polio vaccine after a gap of three years.

“Some 10,000 children who moved to lower Kurram in the wake of military operation have been vaccinated against polio,” Dr Omar, who is supervising the health-related affairs in central and lower Kurram, told Dawn by phone.

He said that about 23,000 children had not been given polio drops in the last three years because of militancy. He said that the health workers didn't visit this inaccessible area in the past because of insecurity.

Dr Omar said that about 11,000 families had fled their homes in central Kurram and shifted to lower part of the violence-wracked agency and the nearby Hangu district.

Over 1,400 families have been registered at the New Durrani Camp while the remaining families are residing with the host families and relatives and in the government buildings. Local authorities have set up three mobile teams for administering polio drops to children in the camps and other places.

The entire tribal region is plagued with polio virus. Last year, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) made headlines when it emerged as the single largest polio-endemic area in the world with 76 cases of the total 142 confirmed cases recorded in Pakistan. Of 60 cases this year, the Fata has registered 20, the highest in the country.

After threatening funds stoppage last year, the donor agencies, including the WHO and Unicef, released the funds only when they were assured that military authorities would facilitate the vaccinators' access to the areas which had been declared peaceful and free of militants, according to officials responsible for the polio efforts.

The UN had also suggested in the past to enter into agreement with Taliban in tribal areas on the pattern of Afghanistan to ensure vaccination of the children.

However, the unending curfew-like situation and Taliban's doubts that the campaign was a ploy by the US to target them have hampered the polio vaccination campaign in the North Waziristan Agency.

“The Taliban shura has no objection to the vaccination, but they are skeptical that the campaign may be used to drop chips and they may end up hit by the US drones,” said an official. He said that Taliban Commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur did not oppose the anti-polio drive, but suspected the US motives behind the campaign.

The official said that the situation had improved after engaging local Taliban in the polio drive, but there were still three pockets in Datakhel that seemed hard to be covered.

Regular curfew in many areas of North Waziristan had almost stalled the polio campaign and now an extended programme was being planned. The authorities have launched a campaign from Tuesday to provide anti-polio drops to about 162,000 children in the area.

Officials said that Bannu-Miramshah and Datakhel-Miramshah roads remained under curfew from Wednesday and health workers could not visit the target areas.

They said that health workers administered drops in some pockets on Thursday and the campaign was likely to last for another day and cover the remaining areas. “Our teams could not visit villages alongside the main roads because of the curfew,” said a health official.

The officials said that a total of 140,000 children could not be vaccinated in Orakzai Agency because of the militancy. These ill-fated children are living in central and upper tehsils of the tribal agency that have not been cleared from militants so far.