Daily Times

Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi Tuesday said the government is trying to get loans rescheduled from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to deal coronavirus pandemic effectively.

“The rescheduled amount will be spent on healthcare issues emerging from coronavirus pandemic,” he told a meeting at Circuit House here. He observed that the incumbent government is carefully monitoring coronavirus trends at the international level. The government has constituted two sub-committees, he said. “I am leading one sub-committee which is working on maintaining and promoting contacts at the international level to deal with coronavirus issues,” he said. “The other committee headed by Asad Umar is focusing on lockdown situation and supply of food in the country,” he said.

Qureshi informed the meeting that the government is in contact with European Union, G-77 and G-20 countries, adding the government is also contacting Pakistanis living abroad. To a question, he said Pakistan is playing its role for lifting of international restrictions on Iran in the wake of coronavirus outbreak. Iran cannot purchase even ventilators despite it has money to buy those, he lamented.

Qureshi stated that immense preparation is required to enforce a complete lockdown in the country. In China, about 60 million people underwent complete lockdown in Wuhan province, he saidm adding that during this period, they (Chinese) mobilised over 45,000 workers for online supply of food items at the doorstep of the people. He pointed out the government will have to distribute meal at doorstep of the masses during complete lockdown in the country. About Tiger Force, he said the first meeting regarding Corona Relief Tiger Force, will be held in Multan. He said every union council is comprised of six wards and the Tiger Force will be set up in every ward. The youngsters of the force will register name of the labourers, their CNIC number, phone number and address, he added. He urged local parliamentarians and district administration to extend maximum cooperation for success of the revolutionary programme of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Qureshi said the incumbent government gave relief package of Rs 1200 billion, which is historic and the best in such a critical scenario. The government is well aware of wheat season, he said, adding it will surely facilitate wheat reaping and other operations including wheat procurement. The foreign minister stated that the pandemic can be dealt effectively by forging unity. He lamented that the opposition is busy in political point scoring only.