QUETTA: Ulema and prayer leaders in Quetta region have agreed to play their role in making the polio eradication campaign a success by persuading parents to get their children vaccinated against the crippling disease.

They made this announcement at a conference organised by the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), Balochistan, at Sikandar Jamili hall in the provincial secretariat.

The conference was presided over by EOC Coordinator Dr Syed Saifur Rehman and attended by Maulana Anwarul Haq Haqqani, Dr Attaur Rehman, Maulana Abdul Raheem Raheemi, Qari Mateen, Maulvi Azizullah, Qari Abdul Rashid and prayer leaders of mosques located in the high-risk union councils.

An official of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Shapur Suleman, briefed the participants on the high-risk areas and the children vulnerable to the disease.

Mr Rehman urged the clerics to create awareness among the masses about the importance of polio vaccination. “People listen to ulema and follow them. Therefore, they should get involved in the polio drive and fulfil their social responsibility as the future of our children is at stake.”

He said that parents’ refusal to get their children vaccinated was the main hurdle in eradicating polio from Balochistan. “Many parents refuse to allow health workers to administer vaccination drops to their children during the campaign on religious grounds and on the basis of vague arguments.

The ulema, he said, could use their Friday sermons to spread awareness. He said parents did not have the right to deny polio drops because unvaccinated children were more at the risk of contracting the disease.

Dr Rehman urged people and ulema to observe social boycott of those parents who refused to get their children vaccinated because such parents by their act had made other children prone to the disease.

The ulema announced their support for the efforts to curb polio and said that parents opposing the vaccination on religious grounds were unaware about Islamic teachings.

The prayers leaders assured the meeting that they would spread awareness about the vaccination during daily prayers’ congregations and in Friday sermons.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2015

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