Daily Times

Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has appealed to the people of the country to stay home, spend the month of Ramazan praying five times a day at home and protect themselves.

Talking to media persons in Islamabad, Bilawal said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s logic and reasoning to change the restrictions that were already in place were beyond comprehension. He said that for the first few weeks the lockdown went relatively well and the people were abiding by the restrictions. Only five members of mosque staff were allowed to offer prayers and people were urged to pray at home.

The PM eased some restrictions, including allowing barbers and tailors to reopen their shops in the country, so it was difficult to convince the clerics to follow the same restrictions about prayers. Before the PM’s easing of restrictions, the clerics were cooperating, he said, adding that there was no need to ease those restrictions. “However, now the PM is justifying his decision, risking the lives of the people.”

The PPP chairman said that Sindh was the first province to impose the lockdown and the Sindh government had engaged the religious community because “we do not have the capacity or police to stop congregational prayers in the mosques”, because mixed messages were coming from the federal government. “We are still trying to engage the religious community, but it is now difficult when the PM is making an issue about freedom,” he added.

“I think this is a colossal failure of leadership,” he said. “When we compare ourselves to the rest of the Muslim world, like Saudi Arabia, Iran and others, they are taking steps to save the lives of their citizens. This is not the time for populous electoral decisions. It is time to take decisions on the advice of doctors and health experts. Doctors of Pakistan from Lahore to Karachi are protesting or holding press conferences, appealing to take those necessary steps to protect them and ease the burden on our healthcare system,” he maintained.

He said the federal government had the responsibility of running the economy, and now it had also the responsibility of protecting the lives and health of the people and securing their livelihood. It was ironic that the first relief package by the federal government was for the construction sector instead of doctors and nurses who risk their lives every single day, he said.

Bilawal said that Pakistan would regret not spending a higher ratio of GDP on health. Whenever the PPP came to power, it drastically increased the spending on healthcare, he recalled.

Bilawal said that he was not only worried for Pakistan but also for other developing countries at the time of the global pandemic.

“We as a global community were not prepared to deal with such a pandemic, and unfortunately, Pakistan did not forge national unity required to fight this pandemic.”