IT would be flint-hearted not to spare a thought for the family of young Mohammad in the Dhodha area of Kohat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It is bad enough that the three-year-old has received a confirmed diagnosis of polio; the fact that his father was arrested on Thursday for having refused to let the child be administered the vaccination will only make matters more difficult for the family.

Two other men were similarly arrested on the same day, in the same area, for refusing to let their children be given OPV doses. And these detentions follow those of over 50 others so far in the area this year alone, for the same reason.

Also read: Man held after unvaccinated son catches polio

The periods of confinement these men will suffer is unlikely to be long, given that they have been arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order law. It can only be hoped that now that the law has taken such extreme action, these men and others will allow themselves to be persuaded to change their position.

It might seem a travesty that such force is being used against opponents of the vaccine. Unfortunately, the realities of the environment prevalent in the country vis-à-vis the vaccination campaign do dictate severe measures, even if not precisely this one.

Not just is polio spreading at an appalling pace in Pakistan — 2014 drew to a close with the tally of new cases having crossed the 300-mark — the country is also poised to infect the rest of the world, which is overwhelmingly polio-free.

Pakistan-specific strains of the virus have been found in other countries, and there are fears that the herd-immunity of the world population may be compromised.

Pakistan must urgently employ some blue-sky thinking. Where the threat of arrest is perhaps an extreme way of forcing parents to accept the vaccine, an effective measure could be to link the issuance or renewal of vital documents to proof of vaccination. Desperate times require desperate measures, and the danger this country is courting has never been more obvious.

Published in Dawn January 24th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play