KARACHI: Wondering and showing helplessness to understand the logic behind Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision of not ordering a countrywide lockdown in the wake of the growing threat of the novel coronavirus, Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday took it up on his own to build a national consensus for “the much-needed move before it turns into a catastrophe”.

Talking to reporters from Bilawal House over digital platforms as a precautionary measure to void a direct contact with them, the PPP chairman sounded firm on his earlier “no criticism policy” against PM Khan and his government, but couldn’t resist when asked about his assessment about the federal government’s decision against a countrywide lockdown.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari was accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah. He received questions from the reporters over the designated digital media platforms.

“This question can better be replied by the prime minister,” he replied to a query by one of the reporters.

He said: “But as I have heard him [PM], he has given couple of reasons. He argued that the lockdown would greatly affect poor people, daily wagers. That logic doesn’t make sense. If we are a poor country, we need to lockdown more quickly. Otherwise, it would be more affected. I still call for making tough decisions and that they should be made quickly before it turns into a catastrophe”.

He termed the situation a national challenge, saying that beyond political and ideological differences every individual had to play his/her role in this fight and deal with the fast-approaching situation. At the same time, he took a jibe over the “PM’s approach” when he mentioned poor class as the main reason he was caring for while denying a lockdown.

“I wonder why our PM has become so much concerned about the poor people, for whom he never cared while approving the budget and finalising the deal with the IMF (International Monetary Fund),” said the PPP chairman.

“If we really care about the poor, we need to move faster because the poor is more threatened… because they live in most unhygienic conditions. I heard him [PM] saying we are not facing the situation like Italy is facing to impose a lockdown. But, I fear, by delaying all tough decisions today, we could be facing the Italy-like situation tomorrow.”

Answering a question, he said the Sindh government was making arrangements to keep normal life operation smooth with least hardship.

While showing least hope on the federal government, the PPP chairman announced his own campaign to build a national consensus on the fight against coronavirus.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2020