Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared on the Ehsaas Telethon on Thursday to help collect funds for the coronavirus affectees. After the end of the marathon session, it was revealed that the government had been able to collect Rs55 crore from the transmission. The telethon was held at the Prime Minister House.
Speaking about the coronavirus, the prime minister said that the entire nation will have to take part in the battle against the infection. “No single government can battle the pandemic. The entire nation needs to join hands to fight this virus, keeping in mind the times that are ahead,” he said.
Imran urged people to adopt safety precautions against the coronavirus. “The virus spreads at a very fast rate,” he said. “There have been viruses and people have been infected with the flu before. But this is unprecedented,” he added.
Speaking about his experience of collecting donations for the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital, the prime minister said that he had encountered various people from around the country while building the hospital.
“I always tell this to my children and to others as well. Whenever you spend in the way of Allah, it brings you a lot of other rewards, such as the feeling of contentment,” he said, adding that one’s bank balance should not be the measure of his wealth. “True wealth is what you feel inside,” he added.
“The most amount of cash distributed has been in Sindh, where our party is not in power,” he said, adding that this was reflective of the programme’s transparency. The balance in the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Covid-19 has amounted to Rs2,765,980,593.
The Prime Minister said that after the government conditionally allowed congregational prayers in mosques, it was now the responsibility of ulema to ensure the people follow the standard operating procedures for collective prayers. He said the government had initially tried to convince people to pray at their homes but it later became clear that people would go to mosques during Ramazan “no matter what we do”. “I know my nation. I knew people had to come out [to pray] during Ramazan,” he said.
Once this was confirmed, he continued, the government decided to allow people to visit mosques but with certain conditions. He said it was also made clear at the time that the mosques would be closed if people violated the SOPs agreed between the government and ulema.
“It is now the responsibility of the ulema who gave us guarantees” to ensure the precautions are observed, Prime Minister Imran said.
Nevertheless, the premier stressed that people should pray in their homes and stay indoors during Ramazan. He also said doctors across the country were justified in demanding a strict and complete lockdown because they are on the frontlines of the battle against the coronavirus.
But he said the government had to show flexibility when ulema argued that mosques could be allowed to open with SOPs just as some other sectors, such as the construction industry, were opened with orders to follow certain SOPs.
Prime Minister Imran said that instead of issuing orders that lead to people being “beaten up and jailed” for coming out of their homes, “we as a responsible nation should place the onus on the public.”
In addition, he said, the government had the option of imposing a “smart lockdown” in areas where people are not following the SOPs for congregational prayers. The premier during his remarks urged citizens to practise social distancing, saying what differentiates the coronavirus from other viruses is that its rate of spread is “unprecedented”. He stressed that “no government can solve coronavirus [crisis] on its own”, saying everyone would have to contribute to the efforts to defeat the pandemic.
Imran said that the government will use deficit funding “if needed” to save the economy. Responding to a question on whether the budget would be affected by coronavirus, the premier said that “tax collection will decrease, revenue will decrease”. He added that it was important to support industries and the government would plan accordingly.
He revealed that police and federal investigation agency officials are involved in ensuring transparency in the government’s Ehsaas cash disbursement programme.
“This will be the most transparent programme in the country’s history,” the premier said, adding that it had taken 10 months to constitute the database for the programme and beneficiaries would be “vetted”.
