KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Information Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that directives have been issued to the law enforcement agencies to treat people gently, but the people should also follow the government’s directives regarding the lockdown and cooperate with security personnel.

He added that in order to create awareness among the people regarding the spread of coronavirus, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had formed an awareness committee comprising senior members of the party.

In a statement issued here, the minister said that he had also been included in the awareness committee.

He said that this committee would ensure to adopt every possible necessary measure to create awareness among the masses.

Regarding the lockdown, the minister added that if people ignored the directives issued by the government, then there was no other way left except for taking action against them according to law.

The people should not consider it a curfew, but rather a ‘care for you’, he added.

By staying home people could not only protect themselves, but their families and others from coronavirus as well, the minister said.

Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah was not only extremely worried, but he was also taking all necessary decisions to protect people from the coronavirus.

He said that the chief minister had repeatedly made it clear that the government did not want to adopt any drastic measures, but owing to some careless people, if the government needed to adopt further drastic measures to prevent the spread of the virus, it would not hesitate to do so.

He said the government was very concerned about people working on daily wages before taking any drastic measures for which the administration was arranging to provide rations to their homes with the help of welfare organisations.

Ms Shah said that without the help of welfare organisations, delivering rations to the needy would be a very difficult task indeed.

The provincial information minister said that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was also very concerned about distribution of rations among the needy and creating awareness among the people about the coronavirus, and he had also instructed the chief minister in this regard.

In the light of Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s instructions, the chief minister was busy taking necessary steps and adopting all measures to reach every single needy person in these testing times.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2020