“Anti-polio vaccination teams will not be allowed to administer polio drops among children in North Waziristan,” local warlord Gul Bahadur said in a statement.
Bahadur, who is allied with Afghan Taliban fighting US-led troops across the border, said the ban will remain effective until the US stops drone attacks in the tribal region.
“On the one hand they are killing innocent women, children and old people in drone attacks and on the other they are spending millions on vaccination campaign,” the statement distributed in the region’s main town Miranshah said.
It said “the day and night US drone flights in Waziristan are causing mental illness in the local population which is more dangerous than polio.”
Residents said people would respond to the call as Bahadur commands influence in the region.
Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region, known as a hotbed of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, is witnessing increasing drone strikes amid a stalemate in US-Pakistan talks to end a blockade on NATO supplies crossing into Afghanistan.
Pakistan shut NATO supply lines in anger over US air strikes on a border post on November 26 that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The statement, citing the case of Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi jailed for helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden, also slammed the immunisation campaign saying that it may be used for espionage purposes.