——— US demands of freedom for Dr Afridi likely to be discussed in the backdrop of acute damage to anti-Polio drive
——— Set back to anti-Polio campaign being regarded as a matter of security, safety of Pakistani nation
——— Over 94 million kids with majority from Pakistan reported to be vulnerable to Polio
——— Philanthropists, top donors stop contributing to anti-Polio campaigns after CIA’s misuse of vaccination teams
——— Dirty CIA trick puts millions of Polio vulnerable Pak kids’ lives in double jeopardy with millions and millions in neighboring countries being on stake
——— China, India also stand threatened by consequences of CIA’s outrageous act of using volunteers as spies
——— After Dr. Shakeel episode, majority avoiding Polio vaccination teams
——— General Islam comprehensively prepared to give rock solid response to Americans over Dr. Afridi issue
By Makhdoom Babar
Editor-in-Chief
ISLAMABAD: The Chief of Pakistan’s premier intelligence cum security agency the ISI, Lt. Gen Zaheer-ul- Islam, who is heading for the US to hold very high level and highly sensitive talks with his American counterparts is likely to take up the issue of the use and rather misuse of anti-Polio vaccination teams by CIA that were headed by an infamous Doctor, Shakeel Afridi whom the CIA and US government claim to be their hero while he is otherwise set to become the villain for the entire global community as his dirty trick of spying in the guise anti-Polio vaccinators has put lives of millions and millions of the countries across the world with Pakistan being the prime victim, The Daily Mail has learnt on good authority.
Though there is no official world available over the said issue by the army or the ISI, yet it is believed that ISI has taken very serious note of the episode of Dr. Afridi and more seriously the aftermath of the Afridi-led CIA spying campaign on the lives of the junior citizens of Pakistan.
Sources close to the defense circles told The Daily Mail that it is believed that if the Americans would utter a single word in support of Dr. Afridi, during the talks with ISI, they will have to cut a very sorry figure as the ISI chief would be having all the details of the damages caused to the global anti-Polio campaign due to Dr. Afridi’s filthy act. These sources say that though ISI has got nothing to do with anti-Polio campaigns etc but when it comes to the safety and security of the people of Pakistan, ISI being the prime security of the country has all the role to play ensure the safety and security of people of the country, including the kidz and thus it would be having all the rights to question harshly anyone that supports the infamous doctor. These sources say that Dr. Afridi’s spying for CIA is a separate matter but his misuse of anti-Polio campaign is considered as a conspiracy to harm the lives of millions of children in Pakistan and if such a conspiracy is detected, ISI has a very lawful right to discuss the matter with anyone that is involved in hatching such a conspiracy, be it Dr. Afridi or be it the CIA Chief etc.
The sources further said that though the purpose of the ISI chief’s visit to the US is to enhance intelligence cooperation with CIA over the war on terror and to further enhance the ties between the two professional spy agencies and thus no such issue is supposed to be on agenda of the ISI Chief. However if the hosts would take up the issue of Dr. Afridi with General Islam, the General would be fully prepared make them chew their buts over the issue.
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that In the coming months, Polio is set to strike back with horrifying results, wiping out over two decades of global immunization drives. This unprecedented situation has led the World Health Organisation (WHO) to label it as an “emergency” as after the use of anti-Polio volunteers by CIA in Pakistan, the generosity in the worldwide funds to combat Polio has squeezed very swiftly and majority of donors has stopped making financial contribution to the campaign, doubting it to be a CIA undercover operation
The Daily Mail’s investigations further reveal that polio campaign 2012-13 needs $2.2 billion, and it is still short by a whopping $945 million. As a result, 68 polio campaigns have been cancelled in 33 countries. According to a report in the leading medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, an estimated 94 million children in a swathe of countries across central Africa may not be immunized.
A similar danger of cross border transmission exists for China and India too because the other two polio-endemic countries are Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“We’re seeing all over the world a build up of young adults who were never exposed to polio virus, because polio has been eradicated from their area and there have been declining vaccination coverage levels”, WHO’s Oliver Rosenbauer told The Lancet Infectious Diseases. He was also reported as saying that after what happened in Pakistan, the funds from donors have fallen very short, making the combat very diffult.
“If polio virus gets in this group, there could be some really devastating outbreaks, far deadlier than we have seen in the past,” he added.
The Daily Mail’s investigations further reveal that shocked by the shameful use of Polio vaccination teams in Pakistan by the CIA for espionage activities, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, commonly known as the Bill Gates Foundation is understood to have started mulling to sue the CIA over the issue which has caused a major set-back to Polio eradication campaign in Pakistan with Bill Gates foundation spending $85 million for the cause.
According to these investigations, Bill Gates, was briefed by certain journalists and anti-Polio activists that the Polio vaccination campaign had suffered a major setback in Pakistan after it was established that America’s Central Intelligence Agency had been using the local anti-Polio vaccination teams across Pakistan for espionage activities including info on former Al-Qaeda Chief Osama Bin Laden and that the raid in Pakistani city of Abborabad by US seals was conducted on the info provided one of the Pakistani doctors, heading some anti-Polio vaccination teams in disguise. He was also informed that after this development, there was great deal of fear amongst the parents of millions of Polio vulnerable kids about even the genuine Polio Vaccinations teams and they suspect all of them being some foreign spies and thus were avoiding all such teams, subsequently leaving millions of such kids without getting the anti-Polio drops.
Bill Gates was also informed that after the dirty CIA trick was exposed, resulting into majority of parents, particularly in remote areas, avoiding to entertain anti-Polio teams, there was an alarming and sudden increase in the occurrence of Polio cases across Pakistan which touched the 21% in 2011 while it was on the constant decline before the shameful use of vaccination teams for espionage activities by CIA. He was informed that number of Polio cases was recorded as 36 in 2010 but instead of declining, owing to the growing espionage suspicions against the vaccination teams, it reached to 63 in 2011 after it was revealed that many anti-Polio vaccination teams actually comprised the CIA spies. Bill was also informed that many circles in Pakistan were suspecting as if B&MGF were facilitating the CIA as the Bill Gates Foundation was the most generous private donor for anti-Polio campaign in Pakistan, making $85 million for the noble cause. He was briefed that the dirty CIA game had not jeopardize the future of millions of Pakistani children but to this action of CIA, there was every likelihood of spreading of this menace virus to neighboring countries including China and India with populations in billions. According to the WHO, Pakistan has become a “hotbed” of the deadly strain of polio which threatens to spread globally if not checked.
The UNICEF too said recently that Pakistan could potentially be the last polio reservoir worldwide standing in the way of global polio eradication, unless progress was accelerated. According to the WHO, Pakistan is affected by nationwide transmission of WPV1, and is the location of the only wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3) case in Asia in 2011. The WHO said that the deadly strain of polio has spread to China from Pakistan and travelers to and from Pakistan should be fully protected by vaccination. The WHO also warned countries ahead of the Hajj season. “Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) genetically linked to virus currently circulating in Pakistan has been isolated in China,” the WHO said. Chinese news agency Xinhua also reported last year that four infants in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had been diagnosed with Polio which had a 99 percent resemblance with the wild poliovirus found in Pakistan.
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that Mr. Gates was really found shocked to know about this state of affairs. Sources close to the B&MGF, requesting not to be quoted, told The Daily Mail that this spine chilling revelation it was being mulled at the top level of the Foundation to take legal action against the CIA as this act had not only harmed the anti-Polio campaign and put the health of millions of Pakistani children at stake but was also becoming a major threat for millions and millions of children across the world, especially those in neighboring India and China while it had also tainted the image of the foundation despite its donations of billions of dollars for the cause. These sources also said that one of the options available to the legal eagles of the Foundation while suing the CIA was to get court orders for immense financial assistance by CIA for Polio eradication across the world and particularly across Pakistan as a condensation for agency’s shameful and inhuman act. However no official comment over the issue could be ascertained from the B&MGF.
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that a Sweden-based NGO is also preparing to launch a world-wide campaign to highlight the consequences and aftermath of the unscrupulous and unethical of CIA which has put the future health of billions of children across the world, particularly in Pakistan making them quite vulnerable to the menace of Polio. The NGO that prefers to remain undisclosed until the launch of the campaign stated that it would launch media campaigns and a series of workshops and rallies across Europe and the US to highlight what was emerging out of the CIA’s unethical act of using anti-Polio vaccinators as spies.
The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that there were already some doubts amongst the people living in the far flung and rather deserted areas of KP and Baluchistan provinces as well as FATA about the Polio vaccination campaigns and all such campaigns in these areas were not much encouraged in the past. However after the US disclosure that it’s CIA used the vaccination teams as spies, the controversy got solid grounds and thus majority, since then started avoiding vaccinating their kids through all such teams. These investigations indicate that that though the aftermath of the CIA’s unethical act is affecting mainly the rural areas of country, yet the major threat of Polio also looms mainly in the same remote areas.
Though there was less discussions and reservations about the anti- Polio vaccination teams in the major cities, yet former CIA Chief and current Secretary of Defense of the US, Leon Panetta’slatest statement in which he not only re-admitted using the anti-Polio vaccination teams as spies, has put the parents in the grip of an added fear about the currently operating vaccination teams which has come as yet another setback to the Polio eradication campaign. It is learnt that the elite class has started preferring to take their kids to hi-fi private hospitals and clinics for anti-Polio vaccinations while the middle class and lower middle class is opting to go to government hospitals while only the acute lower class is getting their children vaccinated through the mobile vaccinations teams in major cities and urban areas of the country. It is believed that if no solid move is made in this direction and unless the CIA tainted image of the genuine Polio vaccination teams is not tremendously restored, there is a very serious risk of dramatic spread of Polio in Pakistan and the region.