In three separate incidents, 9 UN health care volunteers have been killed in Pakistan by radical Islamists for giving ‘anti-Islamic’ polio vaccinations.

Following the attacks, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) have suspended all their immunization campaigns in the Muslim country. According to the article, at least two radical Islamist groups in Pakistan have publically come out against the immunization campaigns:

The Islamist terrorist group Jundullah has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Calling from an unknown location, its commander, Ahmad Marwat, told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that polio vaccination was forbidden in Islam and the group would continue to target vaccination teams across Pakistan.

The Taliban has also spoken out against the polio-vaccination campaign for months, claiming the campaign was a cover for spies working for the United States and that the vaccine itself caused harm to people.

According to the WHO, there are only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic- Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. Notice that all 3 have radical Islamist groups which oppose Western education and science including medicine. Obviously not all Muslims feel that the vaccinations are against their religion since polio has substantially been eradicated even in most Muslim dominated countries.

Response: It is nearly impossible to understand how killing folks who are actually trying to help people can be justified in the name of Islam. Obviously it can all be dismissed as ignorance which is what Pakistani government authorities try to do. But I believe it goes way beyond that and should simply be considered instead as evil. There is no excuse for actions that take the life of people who are trying to make the world a better place.

Why the killing? Why not just oppose the immunization campaign through convincing dialogue if it is thought to be contrary to ones religion. This only seems to happen in Muslim countries where there are radical interpretations of the Quran that seem to support and require a ‘culture of death’ and jihad.

Ignorance I can understand and I have even experienced it in the past. I was a child in the early 50’s when the polio vaccine first came out and I was one of the first in my small town to get it.  It was controversial at the time and for several months none of the children in my neighborhood were allowed by their parents to play with me since I actually ‘got polio’ with the shot. This was in America and a college town at that. But when the Summer was over and the new school year started, every child was required to get vaccinated and I was no longer alone.

Ignorance was conquered along with polio but in this case it had nothing to do with religion and I was not killed nor were the doctors and nurses sacrificed. However, we did not subscribe to the Quran which seems to proscribe death for every supposed violation.            *Top

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