Daily Times

On February 27, 2019 Pakistan Air Force reported six air strikes against Indian military targets in a PAF operation, codenamed SWIFT RETORT, after Indian airstrikes in Balakot on February 26. The valiant pilots destroyed two Indian aircrafts and Indian pilot Abhinandan Vrthaman was captured and later released within 48 hours of capture as a goodwill gesture by Pakistan. This decision was made primarily by PM Imran Khan in order to defuse the situation and avert military escalation between two nuclear neighbours located in strategically vital South Asia. How Imran Khan reacted after the Palwama attack also reflected his desire to live in peace with India; reportedly he tried to call and speak to Indian PM Narindra Modi but his gesture was spurned by his Indian counterpart. When he was convinced that India was on a belligerent path he was very firm and unequivocal in conveying Pakistans’ resolve to defend its territory. He said Pakistan will not think but retaliate in case India carried out any hostile act. He was able to bring together all state institutions on the same page and Pakistan did retaliate at the time and place of its choosing as announced by the ISPR. In this military standoff with India and ensuing diplomatic/military challenge, Imran Khan did demonstrate his capacity as a leader who communicated with the people of Pakistan and was able to marshall the national support to Pakistan’s’ military response to Indian aggression ; despite a serious risk of nuclear conflagration.

Coronavirus

A deadly virus which has infected over three million people and resulted in over 500,000 deaths all over the world, is testing the limits of the leadership and governance capacity of the affected countries. Since the apocalyptic spanish flu which devoured about 50 million lives, the world has not seen any such medical/natural calamity as the Covid-19. The challenge for the world is compounded by interconnectivity, globalization and instant flow of information through the internet which has “morphed a public health event into a global political ,economic psychological and social crisis of epic proportions”. The competing challenge of life and livelihood constitutes decision making for the political leaders extremely difficult , a “major risk is that the political and bureaucratic leaders could disassociate, engage in policy paralysis, or fail to fully recognize the threat until it leads to irreversible damage, which is unfortunately, exactly how some major countries seem to have responded. New Zealand, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada with robust governing structures led by popular democratic leaders; who have clearly communicated with their populations and as a result have been able to control the spread of viruses. New Zealand and Taiwan are virus free; they have opened their countries. Pakistan faces a grave public health challenge of historical proportions. A new algorithm created by Imperial College London has predicted rather dire consequences if the country does not adopt lock down as a policy option. The algorithm predicts that the corona virus will reach its peak on August10 the day when the country may record almost 79000 deaths. However, the research predicts that if Pakistan imposes 32% lockdown from February 27 to July 11 i.e. for 135 days, August 4 will be peak day with 13,570,000 people affected. The study says that January 2021 will witness an end to the coronavirus in Pakistan.

A successful fight against coronavirus will determine the verdict of history on the performance of PTI

Coronavirus poses the greatest challenge to the PTI government. Despite a spike in spread of virus in all major cities of Pakistan the experts are of the view that there is some space available for action to avert apocalyptic consequences. The strategy by the countries who have successfully eliminated viruses consists of three elements.

Effective communication , which requires a communicating real time with public as virus morphosis with speed and surprise the Government Communication Machinery has to be ahead of the virus in reaching the public, the communication is neither has to be prediction of dire disaster which could have serious psychological impact on the public, nor it is desirable to engage in fudging of figures which are later proven wrong and the Government loses credibility. The communication has to be simple , authentic and credible.

A national approach rather than a provincial and local response is needed. The controversy between the provinces and the center to settle political scores at the cost of undermining each others’ efforts to fight the virus can have disastrous consequences for the country. Also, a strategy should be evolved and implemented in collaboration with all stakeholders, including industry, representatives, heads of private and public institutions, and public and private hospitals. Our strategies have to be based on credible scientific evidence, by collaborating with the Global network of research institutions .

A successful fight against coronavirus will determine the verdict of history on the performance of PTI.

The writer is former Ambassador of Pakistan to Vietnam