KARACHI, Dec 13: A recommendation made by the board of Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has started ringing alarm bells in business and industry.

The GPEI’s independent monitoring board (IMB) recommended last week that it should be made mandatory for Pakistanis intending to travel abroad to produce a certificate that they have been vaccinated against polio.

The world anti-polio body has called for implementing the travel restriction with effect from May 2013.

The business community in general, and the export-oriented industry in particular, have termed the suggestion illogical and unwarranted, contending that polio vaccination drops were given to every child in this country after every three months.

The business community has called upon the government to jolt its ministries and foreign missions into action to take up the matter with GPEI on a priority basis.

Mehtabuddin Chawla, a leading towel exporter, accused the IMB of coming out with a flimsy and unrealistic idea. Mr Chawla said the `war on terror’ had pushed up the cost of doing business for Pakistanis and made their products uncompetitive in the international market.

He expressed fears that the proposed travel ban on Pakistanis would come at a time when the government machinery’s preoccupation with elections would shift its focus away from the anti-polio drive.

Moreover, he added, the anti-polio drive was unlikely to meet its target because of the uncertain law and order in Karachi, Quetta and Waziristan.