AMONGST the many tragedies of Pakistan, one of the remarkable ones is its ability to turn into a raging controversy something that needn’t have been contentious at all.

To many, the battering being taken by the anti-polio campaign is inexplicable. How can there be two opinions about the need to protect children from a disease as deadly as it is preventable and, further, has mainly been brought under control across most of the planet?

The situation is extraordinary. On the one hand is the fact that the disease seems to be enjoying a resurgence; it is becoming an issue in areas such as Karachi and Punjab even though it was earlier thought to be contained in a few pockets. Equally worryingly, the Pakistan-specific strain of the virus has been found in places as varied as Egypt, China and Israel. On the other hand, between the mischief-mongering and misinformation, the vaccination campaign has in many people’s minds become tainted. In some instances tribal jirgas have tried to use the state’s evident desire to administer the drops as leverage with which to bargain: no polio teams will be allowed to enter the area until the drone attacks stop, for instance.

In other cases, the Taliban have ‘banned’ vaccination in areas under their control. Years ago, it was Maulana Fazlullah — current head of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan but known back then as Mullah Radio because of his illegal broadcasts — who greatly promoted the conspiracy theory that the vaccination drops are harmful.

Over the years resistance to the vaccination efforts has gone from passive to aggressive. Recent months have seen polio workers increasingly come under direct, and often lethal, attack. Just yesterday, three people were killed and a fourth injured when gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on a polio team in Karachi’s Qayyumabad area as it participated in the second day of the provincial health authorities’ vaccination initiative.

So, Pakistan has a polio problem, and it is growing rapidly; a report sent to the government by the WHO and Unicef warned that an epidemic is set to explode.

The unease this causes can be gauged from the fact that it was over two years ago that the global Independent Board for Polio Eradication recommended a polio-related travel restriction. Last month India announced that it, too, would be applying the same restriction at the end of January.

What, meanwhile, is Pakistan doing? Nothing very much, other than sporadic and piecemeal demonstrations of good intent and promises of renewed effort. Security has been provided to polio teams, but it has also on occasion been refused, most recently, a couple of weeks ago in Karachi. In any case, the presence of police or other security personnel has not always proved an effective deterrent.

What is the state to do, then? It’s hard to find an answer when those who run the state, the political leaders, are either so quiet on the issue or so cynically manipulative that they can legitimately be burdened with most of the blame. It has been just weeks since Imran Khan, for example, made tall promises about making anti-polio efforts a priority. Given that he moved on to other matters once the cameras stopped clicking, can we wonder whether that was his only aim?

Other politicians and leaders, too, from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Maulana Samiul Haq of the Darul Uloom Haqqania to Aseefa Bhutto Zardari have similarly stolen headlines, and then quietly let the matter slide. Yet, is their lack of concern more or less disturbing than the deafening silence over polio that has come from the leadership and the political elites in general?

The ‘national interest’ is a tattered and much-abused term that Pakistan’s leaders love trotting out whenever the most far-fetched of opportunities presents itself. They need to realise that nothing could be more in the interests of this nation than ensuring that future generations are not stalked by a crippling, life-threatening but preventable disease?