That polio cases are constantly on the rise, from about eight in 2017 to 200 in 2020 and even more now, is a very bitter disappointment. Nobody needs to be reminded that Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the whole world that have not been able to defeat this virus. And there is no way we can swing the same excuses as the western neighbour, which has been riddled with war, famine and suffering for about half a century. We, on the other hand, are a nuclear power and a pretty advanced country in many respects, yet here we stand. The biggest enabling factor for this virus is one which we continue to shy away from recognizing. Somehow, and for some reason, even something as sacred as safeguarding the future of our children was given a religious colour and dubbed a danger to the faith. And, as with just about everything touched by the far-right religious lobby, the state simply buried its head in the sand. There was never any effort to erect an overarching national narrative, no effort to bring together the clergy to sort his issue once and for all, and no attempt to impress upon the people the gravity of the problem. And with every passing day we not only lose more time and more innocent children fall victim to this terrible virus, we also let this terribly regressive narrative entrench itself further in our society. News of polio workers as well as security forces guarding them getting gunned down by terrorists have become far too commonplace for a normally functioning society. To make things worse, there’s still no sign that the state is going to change its approach. The same statements of condemnation and promises of never buckling under pressure are followed by more of the same inaction that was responsible for these attacks in the first place. In this way the state is guilty of near criminal neglect of one of its core responsibilities. It must declare a polio emergency right away and not rest till this virus is gone from this land forever. *