Daily Times

Once again the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) let government officials know, loud and clear, just what he and other four members of the bench thought of the way the coronavirus pandemic was being handled. “You people are spending billions of rupees, but no one knows what is happening… There is no transparency in anything,” he noted once again on Monday as the crux of pretty much all the government says in reply is that the virus hasn’t spread as widely and badly so far in Pakistan as it has in some other countries. But that, quite expectedly, only infuriated the top judge even more.

Pakistan is, quite literally, very lucky that the virus hasn’t impacted us as badly as some other parts of the world. But, all said and done, the only thing this particular phenomenon can be attributed to so far is pure luck since there’s no evidence whatsoever, as the CJP was also forced to note, that the government has done much to mitigate the damage in Pakistan. If anything, the federal government has played the spoiler all along, not even agreeing with the one policy that governments and authorities the world over were and are convinced is the best initial strategy. Even now, for some reason, the prime minister continues to speak against the lockdown.

For some reason, the government believes that the only time to really get serious about something like a lockdown is when the virus has already spread out of control, like many parts of Europe and the North American continent. But that just defeats the purpose completely. And nobody has yet been able to explain just why, even though the CJP didn’t get into the details of this question, the PM continues to talk down the lockdown when his own government ordered it. The chief justice is right to be angry. Rather than be the glue that holds the federation together, especially during crises just like the coronavirus, the centre has been issuing statements and forwarding policy initiatives that were sure to become a serious bone of contention time and time again.

Yet, since the virus has not hit us too hard so far, there is still time to make things right; though not for the people who have already contracted the virus or lost their lives to it. Before it is too late, the government must take the lead in building consensus among all provinces. It is just shameful that while the whole world is coming together to face a global threat, we are unable to achieve consensus among the provinces and the centre; and between provinces as well. *