MOHAMMAD JAMIL
PAKISTAN cannot afford an “indefinite lockdown,” the spokesperson of Pakistan’s defence forces Ma jor General Babar Iftikhar said on Friday. Addressing a press conference alongside Special Assistant to the PM on Information, Firdous Ashiq Awan, he said that information available with the National Command Operation Centre on COVID-19 had made it clear that Pakistan had limited resources to sustain the movement restrictions currently in place across the country. “We will haveto keep our essential services functioning as well,” he added. A section of media had insinuated that by establishing Command Operation Centre, military was calling the shots. Briefing journalists about the functioning of the Command Operation Centre, the spokesman said Planning Minister Asad Umar was leading it. The NCOC serves as the nerve centre to “collate and analyze information received from provinces, after which recommendations are made to National Command Centre,” he said. During the press conference, Major General Iftikhar thanked the media for reporting objectively on the Corona Virus pandemic, saying it was essential that the state and media were on the same page to overcome its threat. He also paid tribute to doctors, health workers and medical staff who are on the frontline of the fight against COVID19. Pakistan currently has 2,708 confirmed cases of the CoronaVirus, with 40 deaths and 130 full recoveries.There are concerns that the country is not testing enough, as National Institute of Health data shows that country has only administered some 30,000 tests since the outbreak last month. In amovetowards relaxingthelockdown,the Punjab Government on Saturday allowed some large industries to open but with limited staff and necessary precautionary measures. The textile, pharmaceutical, sports goods, surgical and medical equipment, fruit and vegetable processors, meat and meat products and auto parts industries can start operating in the province. As a result, 36 textile, 10 sports, seven surgical, three auto parts, 25 pharmaceutical and seven fruit and vegetable units would start working soon. The notification follows Prime Minister Imran Khan’s announcement on Friday about a huge package for the construction sector, saying that it would start working from April 14. He had stressed the need for restarting the economic activities, saying the country was facing the dual threat of Corona Virus and hunger. The salient relaxations announced forthe construction sector mentioned that the investors won’t be asked about their source of income if they invest money during the current year. Moreover, all the taxes have been abolished and replaced by a fixed tax – to be charged on the basis of square yard/square foot. Even then they will have to pay only 10 per cent of the tax amount if the investment is made in the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme. Also, the withholding tax has been abolished on all industries except steel and cement. Efforts would also be made to reduce the sales tax and there won’t be any capital gain tax on selling a house, while a subsidy of Rs.30 billion has been announced for the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme. The government has also declared the construction sector industry and will establish Construction Industry Development Board. Everybody in media and politicians say that Corona Virus should not be politicized, yet efforts are made to blame the government for not taking adequate measures to fight the pandemic. It started from China, but it has also taken the toll in the US and theWestern countries like Italy, Spain and France. Modern urbanized societies are emerging from the effects of Industrial Revolution, whose ills were not understood or controlled. In the 20th Century multinational corporations under the slogan of globalization played havoc with the developing countries. David Korten in his book ‘When Corporations Rule the Earth’ describes “MNCs as instruments of a market tyranny that extends its reach across the planet’s living space, destroyinglivelihoods, displacing people, rendering democratic institutions impotent and feeding on life in an insatiable quest for money”. In fact, colonists of the past created stress in the world, and today they are harvesting what they had sown. From the first reported case on 13 July 1968 in Hong Kong, it took only 17 days before outbreak of the virus was reported in Singapore and Vietnam and within three months had spread to the Philippines, India,Australia, Europe andthe United States.Whilethe 1968 pandemic had a comparatively low mortality rate (5%) yet it resulted in the death of more than a million people. It included 500,000 residents of Hong Kong, approximately 15% of its population at the time. In the past whenever pandemics appeared, it was the result of the stress and included the catastrophe of 1918-19 outbreak of Spanish Flu, which killed millions of people. Much earlier, Plague had been around for a verylongtime beforetheBlackDeath. It caused a major catastrophe during the reign of the Roman Emperor, Justinian, who held sway in Constantinople from 527 to 565. Since that time, there had been lesser and localized outbreaks. However, in the middle of the 14th Century plague had swept over the world, reaching England in 1348 and killed some 50 per cent of the population. It was, of course, evident that crowded conditions in ports and towns contributed to the rapid and fatal spread of the disease; which was also the time of deteriorating social conditions. In so-called Golden Middle Ages the countries were prosperous andmonarchs could affordtheluxury of Crusades. Following the era of prosperity, population had outstripped resources. The agricultural methods at that time were inadequate to provide food for all the hungry mouths. There had been droughts and harvests had been lost; people in some countries were dying of hunger. It is believed that Great Plague in the Emperor Justinian’s time struck at a time when countries were in great distress, undernourished and lacked resistance. —The writer is a senior journalist based in Lahore.
