I N a morale boosting address to the nation, Prime Minister Imran Khan reiterated his previous position on the sensitive issue of total lockdown or imposition of nation-wide curfew to deal with the menace of Covid-19 and recounted two of his major initiatives aimed at mitigating sufferings of the people. He announced setting up of the Corona Relief Tiger Force, which envisages unleashing potential of the youth in fighting the war against deadly virus and institution of PM’s Relief Fund to receive donations to be spent on welfare of the poor. There can be no two opinions that more than anything else the nation needs unity to win this war and that is why the Prime Minister sought cooperation of the people in this regard. He urged the people to play their part in dealing with the crisis situation by strictly following well-tested measures of social distancing and in case of infection ‘self-isolation’ at home. The Prime Minister acknowledged that China succeeded in the war against Corona Virus by adopting the policy of lockdown in Wuhan but added that our great neighbour had the necessary resources that Pakistan does not have. Similarly, he said Indian Prime Minister had to apologize to his people for resorting to lockdown that has added to the miseries of the citizens. He pointed out that 25% of Pakistan’s population was living below poverty line whereas 20% others were those who can be pushed below this line by any major jerk and therefore, he was resisting the option of lockdown. One prays the strategy of the government proves successful but there are all indications the conditions are worsening with the passage of every day and the country witnessed biggest jump in virus spread in a single day on Monday. Though the Federal Government is not announcing total lockdown but practically various measures announced individually by provincial governments have created a similar situation. The Prime Minister is very concerned about livelihood of the daily wage workers in case of a lockdown but they are already finding no work because all industrial, business and other activities are at a standstill. Schools, markets, bazaars, hotels, factories and even construction activities are suspended and there is no question of any labour getting any work under these circumstances. There is practically lockdown as far as daily routine activities are concerned but people are not confining themselves to homes as there was no restriction on them in this regard and formal announcement of lockdown would help promote the cause of social distancing. Otherwise too, the Prime Minister himself has hinted at deterioration of the situation and selected lockdown of locality when he said that the proposed Tiger Force would be mobilized to reach out to the residents of such locality. The Government has also done well by extending ban on incoming and outgoing flights and resisting the temptation of resuming the train service. For understandable reasons, goods trains have been exempted from the decision and thirty coaches have been converted into mobile quarantine facilities. One issue that the Prime Minister hammered again in his address to the nation related to the phenomenon of hoarding and price-hike. He administered a stern warning to all those who are creating artificial shortage of food items, forcing people to resort to panic buying. This is a serious issue which could aggravate further in the days to come if federal and provincial governments do not take coordinated action against such elements. The track record of the government in dealing with such element is also not encouraging as weeks have passed but those who created artificial shortage of wheat flour and sugar and the resultant hike in their prices go scot-free. As for the need of national unity, the opposition has repeatedly expressed its readiness to extend necessary cooperation in dealing with the emergent situation. It is to be kept in mind that it is job and role of the opposition to scrutinize policies of the Government and criticize them in case of any deficiency but the Government is not expected to behave like the opposition. A national dialogue should be held to firm up a workable and coherent strategy incorporating saner proposals of the Opposition. The Government would be in a better position to handle the situation and come up to the expectations of the people if it succeeds in enlisting genuine cooperation of the Opposition and in fact, all segments of the society
