LAHORE: Lamenting violation of social distancing precaution as required under Covid-19 guidelines and flouting of section 144 by two federal ministers, the Pakistan People’s Party has demanded their immediate arrest.

“Two federal ministers have violated the pandemic law in Punjab and they must be taken into custody to establish the writ of law,” Punjab information secretary Hassan Murtaza demanded here on Sunday.

He said Railways Minister Shaikh Rashid violated the law in Lahore, while Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Multan by holding gatherings in violation of the section 144 imposed in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

He regretted that the ministers gathered people in the name of distribution of ration and Rs12,000 financial aid to those affected by the lockdown.

He said the ministers could have delivered the ration at homes of the deserving people and transferred the cash to the bank accounts of the women registered under the Benazir Income Support Programme (Bisp), avoiding the gatherings.

Referring to Mr Qureshi’s statement that those who could not get the cash in Multan on Sunday would be given it through their bank accounts, the PPP leader questioned why the procedure was not being adopted for all the people instead of assembling them at various places and raising the risk of the pandemic spread.

He demanded the ministers should be booked and sent behind the bars for violating the law to prove that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf believed in equality before law.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2020