Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered on Monday that shopping malls and markets should remain open seven days a week, which were earlier shut down during the lockdown imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
The five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court was hearing a suo moto case regarding measures taken against the virus outbreak.
During a hearing of a suo motu case regarding measures taken to deal with the coronavirus crisis — being heard by a five-member bench comprising the CJP, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed — Justice Ahmed questioned the “logic” behind keeping malls closed.
The court also ordered the reopening of shopping malls across the country.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that if the shops are shut down then shopkeepers will ‘die of hunger rather than the coronavirus’.
CJP Ahmed said that in Karachi, except for five big malls every market has resumed operations. Upon which, Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shallwani said that a few markets were sealed for not following the Standard Operating Procedures laid out by the government.
“The sealed markets should be opened and instead of intimidating them (shop owners) make them understand (the situation and SOPs),” remarked the top judge.
The top judge also summoned details of all big shopping malls across Karachi from the city’s commissioner. The Attorney General of Pakistan also presented arguments via video link from Karachi registry during the hearing, while Additional Attorney General appeared before the court.
The CJP expressed indignation over the violation of decisions undertaken during the National Command and Operations Centre’s sessions. “What were the decisions taken by the NCOC?” said the top judge, to which Deputy Attorney General Sohail Mahmood responded that the NCOC decided to reopen the construction sector. “What was the other decision,” continued asking the CJP.
“The NCOC’s other decision was to open small shops and community markets,” said the Deputy Attorney General, adding that the decision regarding reopening of big malls was not taken.
The CJP then inquired about the reason behind closing down markets on weekends, saying that the court will issue a written order that the small markets should remain open on Saturday and Sunday. The CJP noted that the SOPs will be ‘better implemented’ at the big shopping malls.
The apex court also ordered that on the weekends, all the small markets should remain open to public.
The top court called the report presented by the NDMA unsatisfactory, saying that the country’s resources were being utilized in ‘a wrong manner’.
“Why has not our country gained the capapbility to produce its own testing kits?” he said to the representative of the NDMA. To which the NDMA official responded that the Health Ministry can give a better response in the matter.
The CJP objected that there was no proper detail present regarding the expenditure of funds for anti-coronavirus measures. The CJP remarked that the people of the country were not ‘servants’ of the Centre and provincial governments, adding that the citizens ‘are being held hostage in the name of quarantine’.
The top judge told the authority’s representative that the rights if the people are guaranteed in the Constitution and the government is not doing anyone ‘a favour’ by rendering its services.
The top court picked up the case to keep a review on the measures taken by the Centre and provincial governments to stem the spread of the virus among people.
So far, the top court has summoned officials from provinces, NDMA, Health department, and local government setup in cities to present a report on the policy and implementation of measures.
Summoning Sindh chief secretary, the chief justice asked the provincial government to unseal all the shops that were closed for violating the set SOPs.
“Instead of sealing shops and markets the Sindh government needs to ensure that the SOPs laid down by the government are followed,” Justice Gulzar remarked.
The chief justice questioned whether keeping markets closed over the weekends served any purpose.
He further asked member of the National Disaster Management Authority to give details of the amount spent on Haji camps and quarantine centres in the country. To this the NDMA representative responded that around Rs59 million had so far been spent on quarantine centres, while Rs2.5 million were being spent on every patient.
“What is the reason behind spending hundreds and thousands of rupees on one patient?” the chief justice had asked the NDMA representative. “Money has been spent on medical equipment, testing kits and quarantine centres,” the NDMA representative explained.
The chief justice expressed concerns over the money allocated to cope with the health crisis and said: “Corona did not come so that someone can take away Pakistan’s money.”
“Billions of rupees are being spent on tin charpoys,” he added. Justice Amin expressed similar reservations. “I don’t think money is being spent on corona with due consideration,” he said.
“How has so much money been spent on quarantine centres? Has the government built new facilities for quarantine centres,” the CJP inquired. He further stated that around Rs200 billion had already been spent on curbing Covid-19.
Justice Gulzar remarked that the only solution to coronavirus was isolation.
“Is the government spending Rs2.5 million on every patient to keep them isolated,” the CJP questioned.
Probing the attorney general on the government’s response to the locust attack, the chief justice said that if necessary steps were not taken in time Pakistan could suffer food shortage next year.
In its written order, issued hours after the hearing was adjourned, the court noted that the Punjab government and Islamabad administration had approached the National Health Services and Research Centre for permission to reopen malls and will likely obtain one today.“If such can be done by the biggest province of Pakistan, i.e.
