As eight anti-polio workers are killed at the hands of ‘extremists’ Pakistanis once again get swallowed into the black hole of never-ending troubles. That’s what we do with our problems. Let them build, keep putting them off. And then people die because of our own indifference. As news spreads about the 9th anti-polio worker’s death in another tragic attack on the UN, the liberal and conservative, the patriotic and indifferent, together stand on the same end of the spectrum. This is good news for a people who have no sense of self interest. We instead decide who our enemies are and then hurt them howsoever we can, even if it hurts us.
So what is the history of the anti-polio campaign in Pakistan? The facts are simple: vaccines are manufactured in the United States, under WHO standards. Pakistan has the highest number of reported cases in the word at this point (84 nationwide cases were reported last year). Since 2009, 200,000 children have been missing the vaccine each year, making matters only worse on our ever deteriorating portfolio. Why? Because in essence Pakistan’s only ‘well wishers’, the religious anti-West camp, revealed how the United States was only trying to sterilize our people through ‘pig fat’ vaccines. After the fake vaccination campaign by the CIA to capture OBL was exposed, more reason to believe the Tehreek-i-Taliban flooded the already paranoid herd.
As hatred towards the West escalates in Pakistan’s vulnerable North, innocent lives continue to be lost at the hands of drones and the powerful right uses religion as a tool to evade the masses from their own self interest, we witness our own downfall. The liberal, and relatively conservative elite, together continue to bash these attempts as conspiracy theories, yet the problem escalates. Should hatred towards the West, love for religion and suffering from Western policies allow our people to hate on themselves? There seems to be a major lag in narrative: the extremes have been warded off in a place where their voices are muted, and their growth ignored. And this indifference towards them is what helps them grow.
By turning a blind eye and deaf ears towards the booming right Pakistanis have left themselves unprepared for any such attacks. When the anti-polio drives started we were all cheering on for a liberal Pakistan that welcomes health aid and efforts from our allies, frenemies (whatever you want to call them), but until such an incident occurs we keep our faces buried in the sand, not prepared for a reaction. Malala Yousafzai again pops up as an example of such passiveness that we display as a society. This incident reflects badly on us as a people, but it is only a true reflection that we have become. People are like sheep. They need a shepherd. The vacuum the extremists are filling now already existed due to a lack of outreach on the government’s, and apathy on the people’s, part.
Escalating fanaticism, disjointed narratives, and rising problems on every front are not just a consequence of bad leadership, or strong military, or religious influence. Rather it is a product of our Attention Deficit Disorder as a people. We are avoiding our immediate surroundings. The rich either become part of the government or start up a business to secure their lifestyles, the upper middle class try to flee, the lower middle class delude themselves with religion and the least fortunate use drugs or religious rhetoric to make peace with what they have. Those who constantly watch the news feel they have played their part by keeping themselves aware. Facebook causes pop up, and we think signing them will hypothetically take the matter to the ICC or UNO and we will be rescued.
We have political and social explanations for why the incident occurred. Since the upcoming election is the most important concern, most make-do with any explanation that links these two. Perhaps this was a tactic to delay elections, they say. Maybe it really was, but by doing so we once again resort to rhetoric, and ignore our real problems. This incident needs to be an eye opener to us a society. We thought the attack on Malala was enough and then within weeks another extremist backlash occurs. As the UN decides to wrap up the campaign, we have given the world more reason to let us be, and drown in the venom we are constantly producing. We don’t need the West to destroy us. We have ourselves.
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