ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan criticised Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday, saying it was inappropriate to do politics over a sensitive issue, referring to the coronavirus crisis in the country.

“The role of parliament is essential and this House should give a message of national unity during these testing times. This is not the time for politics and nor is it for extracting political mileage,” she said during a video conference attended by the information ministers of all four provinces, Azad Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

“Dealing with the threat of coronavirus is a matter of national security and collective challenge,” she said.

“I am sure the speaker of the National Assembly and Senate chairman will bring together all political parties under one umbrella to develop a national narrative against this pandemic,” she added.

On Wednesday, the federal and provincial governments teamed up for a national-level media and information policy on the pandemic and agreed not to take their internal differences to the media but sort it out among themselves.

Centre, provinces team up for information policy on Covid-19

It was also agreed that information regarding the new coronavirus would not be concealed nor termed as classified by the federal and provincial governments in order to discourage misreporting and spread of incorrect news as “brushing information under the carpet would only aggravate the situation”.

Dr Awan also appealed to the media to obtain factual information about the coronavirus situation in the country from designated persons of respective provinces and areas and not seek any unreliable source.

Renaming ‘Tiger Force’

Meanwhile, Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah assured the support of his province to the federal government for their initiatives in the fight against Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

However, he sought support from the federal government to direct Nadra and Pakistan Telecommuni­cations Authority to give them technical support for distribution of emergency support to the vulnerable population.

“We also need to avoid duplication of efforts and support programmes by the federal government and the provinces,” he suggested.

Responding to a question over his party’s (PPP) concern over the “volunteer force” announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said: “We are with the PM in the initiatives being taken to fight this disease, but party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has reservations over the name, Tiger Force.”

He said: “I would request the federal government to change the name to something like the Pakistani Force which even Bilawal sahib would be ready to join.”

“We have never refused support to the national cause and we will abide by all advisories issued by the federal government because at the end of the day the target is to help the masses in these testing times,” he added.

Dr Awan, in response to the suggestion of renaming Tiger Force to Pakistani Force, said: “Name is not such a big issue. It is the cause that matters and this name Tiger Force is not the end of the dictionary. We can work on it. What is more important is collective decision-making.”

She also suggested to the media to reduce depression amid the Covid-19 outbreak in the county by filing encouraging stories about recovered patients and not to portray them as criminals or “third-class citizens”.

Dr Awan added that media coordination had become challenging because of the deluge of information about the virus, and information ministers had to play their part in providing accurate information to the public.

“Any misinformation could give a depressing message to the masses who have no other source of information except media,” she said.

At the video conference, media outlets, mainly the electronic media, were urged not to follow the “rating race” as these were extraordinary circumstances.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2020