ALMOST 60 per cent of polio cases reported in the world last year had occurred in Pakistan while, according to media reports, no case was reported in India last year.

Ironically, Pakistan, along with Nigeria and Afghanistan, had failed to eradicate polio virus till now, and the world was rightly worried that Pakistan might export the virus.

While looking to the state of polio cases reported in the last two years and the global polio emergency situation would not only bar Pakistani nationals from travelling anywhere in the world but also putting our million children at risk.

In the current scenario the attacks on polio teams and the murder of polio workers in Karachi and Peshawar are a clear violation of human rights and must be condemned by all and sundry.

The provision of protection and facilitation in the field to polio workers is the primary responsibility of the state. Efforts should be made to prevent such attacks in future and must bring the perpetrators of these killings to justice. In this connection civil society organisations, community leaders, religious leaders and the media also have a significant role.

IMRAN TAKKAR Peshawar