Pakistani Villagers Vow 'No Electricity, No Polio Vaccinations'

According to this news article, tribal elders mobilised several hundred residents from villages in Lakki Marwat district in a northwestern Pakistani region - turning away polio eradication teams as part of a protest on June 10 2013. Their boycott was an effort to bring electricity to their area; the message was that as long as they have no electricity, they will not vaccinate their children against polio.

Village elder Zaitullah Betanai said that polio teams will not be allowed to go about their work until the central government accepts the villagers' demands, which - in addition to electricity, involve protection against mosquitos and an ambulance in the area. Local government official Gul Zardar claimed that the administration had engaged in talks with the protesters to try to find a solution. "The political agent says he will not compromise on polio vaccination," Zardar said in a reference to the most senior official in Lakki Marwat. "All their just demands will be addressed. The elders are now discussing the situation with the political agent and we shall continue until their demands are addressed and ensure every child gets polio drops."

During a similar boycott in June 2012, tribal elders in some areas of North Waziristan decided not to administer antipolio drops to children in protest against the suspension of power supplies through so-called rolling blackouts. "Our children die of scorching heat and mosquito bites; what difference does it make if they die of polio?" one of the tribal elders was quoted as saying. Furthermore, Taliban groups in North and South Waziristan once banned the vaccination campaign in a protest against United States (US) drone strikes. Polio workers have increasingly come under deadly attack in Pakistan, where militants have suggested the vaccine is a plot to sterilise Muslims and have accused health workers of spying for the US.