THE Supreme Court has directed the federal government as well as the provincial governments, Islamabad Capital Territory and Gilgit-Baltistan to take effective measures and formulate unified policies to deal with the pandemic and submit a comprehensive report on the next date of hearing. A five-member larger bench of the apex court — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed — while hearing a suo motu case regarding combating the COVID-19 pandemic also made observations about size of the cabinet and inclusion of unelected members into the cabinet.
While some observations and remarks of the honourable members of the bench might have sent distressing signals, there can hardly be any two opinions about the need for taking effective measures and formulation of unified policies by all the governments to fight the virus in a comprehensive manner. It is also a fact that some initial lapses and blunders have contributed a lot in the spread of the disease in the length and breadth of the country. However, afterwards both the federal and provincial governments have been striving hard to check its spread and take care of the infected people as well as affected by the resultant partial lockdown. But we have also been pointing out in these columns repeatedly that the energies and resources of the federal and provincial governments are not yielding the desired result and impact mainly because of lack of coordination and difference of approach in handling the emerging situation. This became evident once again on the day when the apex court was dictating its order on the subject as the National Coordination Committee (NCC) failed to arrive at a consensus whether or not to extend the lockdown. It was because of the confusion of approach and policies that the much publicized plan of opening the construction sector from April 14 could not be implemented from the announced date. The conflicting approaches were also highlighted by public statements issued by some leaders of the federal and Sindh Governments. Under these circumstances, it is hoped that the Supreme Court would go deep into the issue and based on input from all stakeholders issue binding guidelines to federal and provincial governments that are apparently finding it hard to shun politicking even in relation to an issue of life and death for the citizens and the economy.
