THE chief minister of one province seemed confused whether the decision to suspend activities in his province was a lockdown or a shutdown.

Under a shutdown, the provincial administration can only request and try to persuade citizens to abide by its directive and urge them to remain in their houses for the sake of social distancing. It cannot take any legal action against the violators of the shutdown. However, in a lockdown, legal action can be initiated against violators of the government’s directives.

One hopes every citizen will cooperate with the authorities to avoid the catastrophe faced by some countries because the people chose to ignore the government’s instructions on how to deal with Covid-19.

S. Zaki Hasan
Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2020