KARACHI: It is always good to be careful than to act in a manner that you subsequently feel sorry about. These are testing times, not just for Pakistanis but for the entire world. Coronavirus spares no one, therefore following the necessary health guidelines, or as they are called the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in our country, must be ensured.

This also means that the steps that the government takes in order to ensure people’s safety from the deadly disease should also be complied with. But, and there’s usually a ‘but’ in every story, isn’t it?

Notwithstanding the severity of the problem, it has to be said that the incidence of coronavirus in our nook are not as alarming as in other parts of the world. The kind of traffic that one sees on a daily basis on Karachi’s roads and the fervour with which men, women and children visit restaurants — the only activity to keep their minds off the strict routine dictated by the pandemic and, in certain cases, to keep their sanity intact — indicate that people have, to a large extent, devised a way to steer clear of the trouble and remain entertained.

Any visit to the city’s cafes and eateries in the daytime and after dusk is a giveaway as to how desperate the citizens have become to find even a soupcon of entertainment in their lives. It is a delight to see youngsters having breakfast at high-end restaurants and old couples eating out (with masks off, of course) in their cars after having their temperatures checked and hands sanitised. It is important to have some semblance of normality in our lives to ward off psychological ailments. And then the dreaded ‘but’.

The condition imposed by Sindh govt to close shopping malls, markets at 10pm is confusing

The condition imposed by the Sindh government to close markets at 10pm is a little mind-boggling. It has a simple reason: if a business can be allowed to remain open from morning till 10pm, then it means that the authorities are certain that the virus can be contained during this time period. Does that mean that after 10pm the virus spreads faster and in a more lethal way? What’s the logic behind this deadline?

One says this because one has witnessed the way law enforcers behave with shop owners once the clock hits 10 in the evening. They are so harsh (not all of them, mind you) with the salesmen that it reeks of something fishy. Obviously, the fishiness is not the case. The point here is that if the government feels that it is safe for outlets where people can gather to have a good time to do business for more than 12 hours, then surely the 10pm deadline is a bit confusing. Besides, as per figures relayed by the media, the incidence of the disease, thankfully, in Karachi is going down.

Let’s hope and pray it goes further down so that people can heave a sigh of relief with their loved ones.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2021