KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Information Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has blamed the federal government for still taking coronavirus pandemic lightly and said that it was because of its “incompetence” that every person in the country would have to live with the pandemic.

He said those who were calling the coronavirus pandemic a mere flu were now seeing for themselves that the situation was getting worse because of it.

He said that the lack of seriousness on the part of the federal government had put the country in a predicament today.

“If the federal government continues to take the coronavirus pandemic so lightly, then we don’t know how many precious lives we will lose,” he said.

He said that Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had been saying from day one when the first case of coronavirus emerged in the country that everyone should take it seriously, but unfortunately the federal government failed to heed what the two leaders were pointing out constantly.

Claims that Sindh govt distributed rations among deserving people while taking care of their self-esteem

He said that it was the “incompetence” of the federal government that now every person in the country would have to live with this coronavirus.

“Now no one knows how long this will last and how many people will be infected with the coronavirus,” he said.

The minister said that sensible people always praised the steps taken by the Sindh government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the province.

He said that only those who believed in opposition for the sake of opposition censured the measures taken by the Sindh government. “It’s amazing that at a time when the country was facing a pandemic, a few people didn’t forget to do politics.”

He said that the PPP chairman repeatedly said to everyone that this was not the time for point scoring and it was better to put politics in quarantine, but a few people kept on doing what they were used to.

No show off in ration distribution

Mr Shah said that these people should have appreciated the “good deeds” of the Sindh government while pointing out its shortcomings.

He said that if all the provincial governments and the federal government had worked together, the situation in the country would have been very different.

He said that the Sindh government did not show off while distributing rations to the people and took care of their self-esteem.

He said the Sindh government also did not want crowds to gather for collecting rations as it was feared that it might lead to a rapid spread of the coronavirus.

He said that on the contrary, the way the money was distributed to large crowds under the Ehsaas programme caused coronavirus to spread rapidly.

The minister said that everything was going well and the Sindh government was taking appropriate and timely steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the province.

He added that then some strange and unknown spokespersons emerged who not only started spreading rumours, but also incited the people against the Sindh government.

He said that the attitude of the federal government and the constant frivolous statements of these spokespersons turned the tide on all the good deeds of the Sindh government. “If the federal government and its spokespersons had shown prudence, we would be moving towards opening all our business activities today,” he said.

Undue criticism

Mr Shah said that no one criticised any wrongdoing in any province, but if anything happened in Sindh, criticism starts pouring in from all sides. He said that 97,000 children were bitten by dogs in Punjab, while four children died in Charsadda due to negligence, but no one said anything.

He said that when it came to the affairs of other provinces, the 18th Amendment was remembered very well, but when it came to the matters pertaining to Sindh, everything was forgotten.

“Mayor of Islamabad was also suspended simply because [he] belonged to another party,” he said. Similarly, he said that local bodies’ elections had not been held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for quite long now, adding the situation was similar in Balochistan.

The minister said that while the people demand of the government that they be allowed to work and be allowed to go out of their homes, on the other hand they also had a duty to prove that they were responsible citizens.

“The more people follow the government’s instructions and wear face masks and maintain social distance and follow other guidelines, the sooner we can get rid of the pandemic,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2020