Pakistani Parents Arrested - Nearly 500 parents have been arrested in the northwest Pakistan city of Peshwar for allegedly refusing to vaccinate their children against polio.
Pakistan is only one of three countries where polio is still endemic in the world today. The troubled city of Peshwar, in the Kyber Pakhtunkhwa province, is home to a majority of the people suffering from polio in the country. Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Peshwar to be the "largest reservoir" of polio in Pakistan after more than 90% of the strains of polio sampled from across the country was traced to the city.
Official efforts to spread vaccines to this area have been stifled by the fact that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have hideouts there. The terrorists, who have attacked doctors, claim the polio vaccination and other public medical programs are a ruse by authorities to spy on their activities.
Since last year, Pakistani authorities have been campaigning to kick polio out of the country. Currently, reports indicate that medics are looking to vaccine over 2.7 million children in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Riaz Khan Mehsud, the deputy commissioner of Peshwar, has revealed that the 471 parents were detained for refusing to let their children be vaccinated. "There is no mercy, we have decided to deal with the refusal cases with iron hands. Anyone who refuses will be sent to jail," he told AFP.
According to Mehsud, officials have provided up to 1,000 blank arrest warrants to enable police easily take anyone who refuses to let his child take the polio vaccine into custody.
Officials say the arrested parents would be eventually freed after they provide a written assurance and 2 guarantors that they will indeed let their children get vaccinated for polio.
The Pakistan Herald has reported that the police initiated cases against more than 1,400 people in Peshwar on Monday for also refusing to let their children get immunized.
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