The administration of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s district Khyber has enforced a 12-day smart lockdown in a locality in tehsil Jamrud. News coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is very disturbing where more than 17 cases of mpox had been reported over the last three years. This is a communicable disease. Pakistan has a good record of controlling Covid 19 through smart lockdown that was much worse than mpox. Under the leadership of Dr Zafar Mirza, the country cruised out of that disaster with minimum losses. Dr Mirza is still associated with Shifa Tameer-e-Milat University in Islamabad as a professor and he needs to be consulted on this matter as soon as possible. Taboos and social scare is always associated with communicable diseases, not least mpox. On a higher level, a communication drive has to be had to do away with these taboos through such messages as disassociate sickness from sin. To be sick is not a sin. Most patients are those who worked in the United Arab Emirates or Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Pakistan better learn from these two countries, which conduct excessive scanning before letting anyone enter their land so that communicable diseases do not spread. Why do we lose our guard at our airports when people from abroad arrive here. Uniformed staff is seen humiliating and scuffling with those who arrive here with some smart phones or jewelry but no one bothers scanning the passengers. Had we made our airports safer, this situation would never have arrived. Mpox can be a real threat if goes unchecked. The smart lockdown that the district government has imposed now should have been in place a long time ago in the affected localities. Smart lockdown is a rational choice as it ensures that routine life is as less affected as possible. Extra care has to be taken of children and expecting mothers. The government cannot say how long this smart lockdown will go on but we can expect that it will be over sooner than later. *