Daily Times

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned the Sindh government on Sunday against neglecting the needy during the coronavirus outbreak, directing them to help out those affected the most by the pandemic.

Bilawal was chairing a meeting on measures to help daily wagers during the lockdown in Sindh. He said it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that not a single citizen goes hungry. “The Sindh government should go to each and every needy person’s house and provide them with ration,” he said. “I will not tolerate any negligence when it comes to helping the poor.”

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Imtiaz Shaikh, Murtaza attended the meeting, while Saeed Ghani and Harris Gazdar participated via video link. On Sunday, a detailed consultation was held on identifying deserving persons and plans to access them with targeted relief activities. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was informed by Murad Ali Shah about the performance of the government in this regard.

On the occasion, the PPP chairman stressed the need of creating a system that would help the government, welfare organisations and philanthropists work in a coordinated manner to maximise relief efforts.

In this regard, Bilawal directed the Sindh government to immediately consult with the donors and officials of welfare agencies, and to reach out to philanthropists to formulate a joint action plan.

The PPP chairman, in a message to philanthropists and officials of welfare agencies, said that the Sindh government has carved out a plan of action and that their help was needed to make it successful. He said that charity and welfare organizations could be more effective by working with the Sindh government.

Speaking on the occasion, the PPP chairman also said, “I call on everyone to help thy neighbour. This is a time of global crisis and it requires us to unite in our humanity. We are stronger together and must lift everyone else with us.” The PPP chairman added that everyone had to unite to overcome and control this crisis. He told the Sindh cabinet members that the provincial government should have a full plan in case the lockdown is prolonged. He appealed to the public to fully comply with the lockdown, because only with the “complete implementation of the lockdown can we cope with the coronavirus epidemic”. Bilawal said that the most important thing for him was to secure the lives of his people.

Meanwhile, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday said that the federal government had wasted precious time. The former Punjab chief minister was speaking to the prime minister of Azad Kashmir and the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan via video conference. “Gilgit-Baltistan is in urgent need of the federal government’s attention,” he said. He said that a timely lockdown had proven effective in saving many lives. Shehbaz criticised the government for delaying decisions. “The federal government lost a lot of time in overthinking and reluctance,” he said. The PML-N leader expressed concern at the alarming rate of coronavirus cases increasing in Punjab. He thanked the Chinese government for coming to Pakistan’s aid in its time of need. He relayed the message of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, saying that Nawaz was concerned about the evolving situation in the regions.

Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan Hafiz Hafeez-ur-Rehman demanded a commission be formed to investigate how pilgrims in Taftan were kept at the quarantine camps.