MARDAN: Jamaat-i-Islami provincial chief Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan has declared coronavirus as a bigger challenge than the issue of terrorism as it has badly affected every sector of life.

He was talking to mediapersons in Takhtbai Press Club here on Saturday. Local leaders and workers of the party were also present on this occasion.

Senator Ahmad lamented that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had adopted a non-serious attitude to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that only one per cent people had been vaccinated so far in the country.

He demanded formation of a national plan to combat the pandemic just like the National Action Plan that the government had made for tackling the issue of terrorism.

Senator Mushtaq calls for action plan to tackle pandemic

The JI leader said that the situation was deteriorating day by day as 90 per cent ventilators were in use while people as well as doctors and paramedical staff were losing lives owing to the virus.

“All the government and private educational institutions are closed since long but the government has no plan or line of action to continue the education process,” he said.

Mr Ahmad said that the PTI had failed to deliver as the tsunami of price hike had pushed about 54 per cent people to live under the poverty line.

“All types of mafias are sitting in the current regime that is why the tsunami of price hike has reached a record level of 18 per cent,” he said. Answering a query, the JI provincial chief said that only five per cent people were benefitting from daily use commodities provided through utility stores and that too after standing in long queues for hours.

He said that JI would never become part of the Pakistan Democratic Movement. He said that they would start their struggle against the ‘inefficient’ government after Eid.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2021