PRIME Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday that the decision to impose lockdown in the country to combat the Coronavirus pandemic was taken by the elite without thinking of the poor. Speaking at COMSTECH Headquarters in Islamabad at a ceremony regarding the production of ventilators, sanitizers, safety kits, testing kits and masks, he once again talked of striking a balance between the lockdown to save people from falling prey to the virus and ensuring the poor and the needy did not face hunger, adding this could not be achieved by locking down the country without taking care of the weak segments of the society.
Verbally, the Prime Minister is sticking to the position he took from the very beginning of the pandemic that the country cannot afford lockdown in view of economic vulnerabilities that are likely to hit the poor more. However, practically, the Centre and the provincial governments implemented measures that amount to lockdown of the entire country. It is, therefore, not absolutely clear as to whom the Prime Minister was referring to when he said that the decision to lock down the country was taken by the elite. This is because originally the concept of lockdown was conceptualized by the Chinese government showing a way out to the world in the face of COVID-19. There is hardly any concept of elite in China and most of the countries of the globe also resorted to the same scheme of things to contain the spread of the virus and the strategy has worked everywhere it was adhered to in letter and spirit. In Pakistan too, most of the decisions that formed part of the lockdown policy were taken in meetings chaired by the Prime Minister but these were fully implemented in Sindh and partially in other provinces. As far as safety aspect of the Coronavirus is concerned, it is affecting equally the elite and the poor and, in fact, the highly populated areas where poor and middle classes live are more vulnerable to the spread of the disease than posh areas as has also been confirmed by the latest development when two sub-sectors of the Federal Capital have to be sealed and handed over to the Rangers and Islamabad Police after dozens of cases were confirmed. I-10/1 and I-10/4 are inhabited by the common man and are also frequently visited by people because the sector also houses twin-cities’ largest fruit and vegetable market and is in close vicinity of Pir Wadhai bus stand. Of course, the virus has more economic implications for the common man than the elite who have the resources to sustain vagaries of the situation. But it is here where the role of the governments becomes relevant – protecting vulnerable people and the PTI Government too has launched several schemes to provide relief to the masses. People can be safeguarded against economic impact through different measures as well as through philanthropic traditions of the society but it is next to impossible even for the advanced countries to take care of healthcare needs of the people during prevailing crisis. If the number of cases surges beyond a certain level, it will become difficult for the country’s health system to bear the burden. Therefore, instead of dithering on the question, the Government should be absolutely clear as to what its priority is. No doubt, the Government is implementing the policy of smart lockdown as we are witnessing in I-10/1 and I-10/4 but the cases would not have increased in these areas if lockdown in the real sense was implemented by the authorities concerned. Instead of taking administrative measures to force people to observe precautionary measures, the Government is solely relying on voluntary compliance by citizens, which is not a right proposition given our peculiar societal behaviour. As for the relief for the poor, the Government would have done more favour to the common man by passing on due reduction in prices of oil in the international market to the domestic consumer. Strangely enough, it has opted to lower the prices much less than they should have been for considerations other than provision of genuine and due relief to the poor, ignoring even recommendations of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).
