Polio, Bin Laden, and the Doctor

Blog Four: Polio, Bin Laden, and the Doctor

On January 13, 2016, a polio facility in the city of Quetta, Pakistan was attacked by suicide bomber killing 15 including 13 police officers and injuring another 23 bystanders. A few hours later, Ahmed Marwatt, spokesman for the Jundullah or Army of God, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The group was known to have ties to the Taliban and has promised more attacks if the polio vaccinations do not stop. This tragedy has unfortunately become an all too common theme for Pakistan a combination of anti-American sentiment, the Taliban, and a covert operation conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Throughout the nineteen nineties, uninformed Pakistani’s were told that polio vaccine was used to sterilize Muslims; clerics falsely described that the vaccine contained pig products a taboo for Muslims. In October 1999, 588 cases of polio were diagnosed throughout Pakistan.

In 2006, Maulana Fazlullah, jihadist cleric of the banned Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law), spearheaded efforts against government backed health programs. he wanted polio program banned from Pakistan as he believed it was a conspiracy created by the west. Maulana Fafzlullah, is now leader of the Tehrik-I-Taliban Pakistan (TPP) and approves and praises attacks on polio workers in the wake of the bin laden raid.

Many within the Taliban and other militant groups look at  Dr. Shakil Alfridi as the perfect example of why not to allow the polio program in Pakistan. The Pakistani media claim he worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) willingly to run a covert polio vaccine campaign in the Abbottabad, Pakistan.  They were convinced the doctor could obtain the information if Usama Bin Laden was within the compound.

Doctor Afridi insists he thought he was working for “Save the Children” which included running Hepatitis B campaign, which included gathering DNA samples. He stated that he admiration for the United States but never knew he was to be part of a plot. Praised as a hero in Washington, D. C.,  and vilified by Pakistan, and now serving a twenty three year prison sentence Dr. Afridi may be the most tragic figure in Pakistan’s polio war.

Between 2012 and 2015, 78 polio workers have been killed, and dozens more injured for trying to administer polio vaccine. Some of the most graphic killings came in December 2012 when Taliban militants executed a string of attacks on Karachi, Peshawar, Charsadda, and Nowshera.

On October 7, 2013, an attack on an attack on a medical distribution camp in Suleman Khel area of Peshawar and killed seven including four security officers. Attacks spiked again in 2014 as more security and police were sent to guard polio clinics.

Pakistan is gradually making progress on the war on polio and have entered regions like the northern Waziristan, an area controlled by the Taliban, and for years never allowed polio vaccine programs.  However, there remain jihadist leaders and followers though out Pakistan who will continue their attacks on these medical clinics.

Pakistan has the highest rate of Polio in the world just ahead of Afghanistan and Nigeria, so there is a critical need for these vaccines.

Despite an uptick in violence against polio workers following the exposure of Dr. Afridi’s role in the intelligence operation which led to the Bin Laden Raid, the reality is that Pakistani jihadist groups were always mobilized against the polio campaign as part of their ongoing conflict with the Pakistani government, and against Western influences more generally.