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Polio Workers Shot in Pakistan
ScienceInsider ^ | 23 July 2012 | Leslie Roberts

Posted on 07/24/2012 1:31:09 AM PDT by neverdem

A man working for the World Health Organization (WHO) on the polio eradication campaign was shot and killed in Karachi, Pakistan, on the evening of 20 July. Muhammad Ishaq was shot outside his clinic in a rough slum area of Karachi known as Gadap. Ishaq, who was from the local community, died en route to the hospital.

Just 3 days earlier, two gunmen shot a Ghanaian doctor working for WHO and his Pakistani driver, who were participating in a national polio vaccination campaign, in their car. The doctor was wounded in the stomach; the driver suffered a grazing wound on his shoulder. Both men are recovering.

After the first shooting, WHO cancelled the remainder of the vaccination campaign in Gadap and put in place stepped-up security measures.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the shootings and there is no definitive evidence linking the two events, says Bruce Aylward, an assistant director general of WHO and the longtime leader of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Similarly, it is unclear whether the shootings were random or targeted polio workers specifically. Until they get more evidence, says Aylward, "our operating assumption is that [the shootings] may be related, and that affects how we approach security."

Gadap is a densely populated slum with a large minority and migrant population; many of the residents are from the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, where opposition to any government-run or Western program is intense. Rumors abound that the polio vaccine is unsafe and is part of a U.S.-led campaign to sterilize Muslim children. About a month earlier, a leader of a Taliban faction in North Waziristan banned polio vaccination in his part of the tribal area until U.S. drone strikes stop.

Expressing its deep sorrow, WHO issued a statement saying the shootings will not distract from the progress Pakistan is making in its fight to wipe out polio. Pakistan, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, is one of three so-called endemic countries where transmission of the poliovirus has never been interrupted.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: islam; pakistan; polio
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To: Truth29
There was also an incident some time ago, IIRC in Africa where the arms of the vaccinated children were hacked off to deter cooperation with aid groups.

I remember that as part of the narrative by Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now.

21 posted on 07/24/2012 10:26:29 AM PDT by Moltke ("I am Dr. Sonderborg," he said, "and I don't want any nonsense.")
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To: Cronos; kearnyirish2
Whatever ki’s intention, the effect of denying vaccines to the Third World is to kill and maim children. I agree, it's frustrating as all hell.
22 posted on 07/24/2012 11:17:34 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (The Democratic Party strongly supports full civil rights for necro-Americans!)
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To: neverdem

Why do you need to be energy independent to take on Pakistan? What energy do you import from Pakistan?


23 posted on 07/24/2012 11:28:57 AM PDT by ravager
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To: ravager
Why do you need to be energy independent to take on Pakistan?

Who wants to take on Pakistan? For what gain? They are both both useless ingrates and a treacherou ally in Afghanistan. The country is a mess and has nukes.

What energy do you import from Pakistan?

None, but we buy it from other Islamic countries, funding jihadis in the process when we have plenty of coal, oil and natural gas and that more could be gotten from Canada and Mexico to meet our near term needs until we became completely independent and an exporter of coal and natural gas. Did you ever hear of fracking? It's a keyword.

24 posted on 07/24/2012 3:30:11 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: Slings and Arrows

Thanks for the very timely post. It sure goes to the thinking doesn’t it. Great insight...

Very sad.


25 posted on 07/24/2012 3:39:37 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Remove all Democrats from the Republican party, and we won't have much Left, just a lot of Right.)
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To: Truth29

I hadn’t heard of that one. Man, it doesn’t get much sicker than that.


26 posted on 07/24/2012 3:40:40 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Remove all Democrats from the Republican party, and we won't have much Left, just a lot of Right.)
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To: piasa

It seemed to me that for security, tricks/methods, and even logistics, you don’t reveal any of that stuff. Obama was so intent on being a rock star, that he bought off on being a nine year old again. He’s dumb as a box of rocks, and continually reaffirms it.


27 posted on 07/24/2012 3:43:29 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Remove all Democrats from the Republican party, and we won't have much Left, just a lot of Right.)
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To: Cronos

Yeah, that’s a real buzz-kill. Too bad for the kids. I hate that phrase, it’s used so loosely, but here it is so fitting and undeniable.


28 posted on 07/24/2012 3:45:22 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Remove all Democrats from the Republican party, and we won't have much Left, just a lot of Right.)
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To: RipSawyer

Yes, it wasn’t a well thought out question. It’s still amazing to me the choices people make without looking at the facts and or alternatives.


29 posted on 07/24/2012 3:48:18 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Remove all Democrats from the Republican party, and we won't have much Left, just a lot of Right.)
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To: neverdem

Is your car ready to run on coal or natural gas?


30 posted on 07/24/2012 3:57:09 PM PDT by ravager
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To: neverdem
“Did you ever hear of fracking? It's a keyword. “

Fracking?? Whatever happened to “drill baby drill”?

31 posted on 07/24/2012 4:00:25 PM PDT by ravager
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To: DoughtyOne

You’re quite welcome. To be honest, I’m surprised they didn’t blame the Jews.


32 posted on 07/24/2012 4:03:19 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have IngSoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: ravager
Is your car ready to run on coal or natural gas?

No, is your's, and why would you ask that? Gasoline can be synthesized from both, but we don't have a shortage of crude oil, just the will to get it.

33 posted on 07/24/2012 4:22:38 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: ravager
Fracking?? Whatever happened to “drill baby drill”?

They combine it with horizontal drilling to get oil and gas from shale formations.

34 posted on 07/24/2012 4:29:03 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: Slings and Arrows

LOL, me too. I better go sit down so I don’t faint standing up.


35 posted on 07/24/2012 4:44:54 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Remove all Democrats from the Republican party, and we won't have much Left, just a lot of Right.)
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To: neverdem; ravager

the best idea would be to remove pak’s nukes...


36 posted on 07/24/2012 11:08:46 PM PDT by Cronos (**Marriage is about commitment, cohabitation is about convenience.**)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets; Cronos

The effect of denying Western medicine is to let these people live the lifespan Allah wished them to live without dealing with the infidels.

I guess you can’t see it from the viewpoint of the dead aid workers’ families (there have been many of them); as for children, every murderous one of them started as a child. If you’re really concerned about the children then take Ann Coulter’s advice and kill their leaders to “rescue” them.


37 posted on 07/25/2012 2:55:27 AM PDT by kearnyirish2
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To: neverdem

Kinda reminds me of that Prince song...

“Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s thirteen ninety nine!!”

I’m sorry to have to say it, but Muslim ignorance, short-sightedness, paranoia and vanity never cease to amaze me.

What a wretched deity.


38 posted on 07/25/2012 3:03:40 AM PDT by djf ("There are more old drunkards than old doctors." - Benjamin Franklin)
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