PESHAWAR: The government’s failure to persuade Taliban to lift ban on administration of anti-polio vaccine in North Waziristan Agency has put children at risk of polio in the whole country.

In June 2012, a militant group led Hafiz Gul Bahadar banned anti-polio in the area, saying drive against polio was a ploy by the US to spy on Taliban and kill them in drone attacks.

Since then, there has been no vaccination and about 160,000 children remained unimmunised in the tribal region. Several cases of polio have been reported in the area.

The vaccinators argue that Hafiz Gul Bahadar is regarded as ‘good Taliban’ and close to the government. He has not been attacked by the government because he is not part of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Gul Bahadar has also linked resumption of anti-polio vaccination with cessation of US drone strikes in North Waziristan Agency. The drone strikes have now been stopped.

No drone attack has been carried out for the last more than 100 days but the ban on vaccination is effectively in place, haunting not only local children but also in the adjacent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Even TTP had never claimed responsibility for killing anti-polio vaccinators, which means that Taliban can be convinced to lift the ban if they are formally requested, sources say.

“There are no serious efforts by the government to speak with Taliban and do away with the ban,” officials said.

Not only the government has failed to prevail upon Gul Bahadar to lift the ban but it has also ignored calls from pro-vaccination clerics, who have written a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in January this year, asking him to allow them to pave way for resumption of vaccination to safeguard children from the crippling childhood ailment.

Under the banner of National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF), about 7,000 religious scholars including seminary teachers and prayer leaders have been playing instrumental role in addressing refusals against the oral polio vaccine.

The letter, also addressed to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, points out that NRDF in collaboration with Unicef reduced refusals by 90 per cent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas between November 2009 and 2012 but the unceremonious termination of the partnership dealt a serious blow to children’s vaccination in the region.

It says that termination of the programme forced hundreds of religious leaders and seminaries to disassociate themselves from the polio eradication efforts, which created doubts in people’s mind about the vaccine.

Sources in NRDF told Dawn that the organisation was concerned over growing cases of refusals and attacks on vaccinators. They said that they were ready to offer their services voluntarily for the sake of the children of the country.

“However, there is no response to our letter despite passing of four months,” they said.

The NRDF-affiliated clerics in Waziristan are hopeful that they can resume vaccination if they are formally requested by government. “There will be no announcement about lifting of ban on vaccination but we have worked out to ensure vaccination in 95 per cent of the area,” they said.

Fata recorded 65 cases including 33 from North Waziristan Agency and 20 from Khyber Agency out of the total 93 cases in the country last year. In 2014 too, Fata has recorded 37 cases including 33 from North Waziristan Agency of the 44 countrywide cases recorded in 2014 so far.

All the victims were not immunised owing to ban on vaccination in the area.