Measures help contain spread of pandemic in AJK

F.P. Report

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said that timely preventive measures adopted by the state government had contained the spread of Covid-19 pandemic in the Azad territory, but our brethren on the other side of the Line of Control face two plagues i.e. Indian imperialism and Covid-19 at a time, and they are valiantly resisting the both.

In an interview with a Pakistani English-language magazine, he said that the latest situation unfolding in occupied Kashmir is a matter of grave concern for us.

He said that in mid-March last, the AJK Government swiftly responded to the Coronavirus pandemic and took measures to establish quarantine centers and Check posts at the entry-exit points, and identified medical centers and hospitals for treatment of suspected patients.

“District Health Response Teams in all ten districts, called Rapid Response Team (RRTs), headed by District Health Officers, were set up which also comprised representatives of the Revenue Department, Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) and NGOs.

He said that after the enforcement of lockdown, the armed forces and the law-enforcement agencies had adopted effective measures to prevent the people from assembling in streets, roads and other public places, and also made sure that there is no shortage of food items and medicines in the state.

The state president appreciated ulema for extending full cooperation to the government in ensuring minimum gatherings in mosques and precautionary measures in funeral prayers and other religious rituals. He also lauded National Disaster Management Authority for cooperation with the state government.

President Khan said that after establishing isolated wards for Covid-19 patients in all district hospitals, the health department took steps to send samples of patients to National Institute of Health Islamabad, and also upgraded Virology Department of Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences Muzaffarabad to conduct Covid-19 tests on the local level.

The Officers Club of Muzaffarabad has been turned into a 50-bed Covid-19 hospital equipped with modern medical facilities, which is being co-managed by AIMS and CMH Muzaffarabad, the president stated and went on to say that facilities for Covid-19 tests have also been provided in three administrative divisions of Muzaffarabad, Poonch and Mirpur.

Sardar Masood Khan particularly hailed the armed forces, philanthropists and social organizations for providing relief to the affected people, and said that the government was also trying to assess the economic losses caused by lockdown.

According to the data, the situation in Azad Kashmir with a total of 29 Covid-19 is far better than other parts of Pakistan, but the pandemic is growing with every passing day.

Responding to various questions, President Khan said that like the rest of the world, the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) is also consumed by the fear of the coronavirus but Kashmiris under lockdown are facing a double whammy. The Indian authorities are not testing proactively in the region but just preparing for an emergency. Aljazeera reported that Kashmiris fear that they would “die like cattle”.

He said that the bigger worry is that nobody knows about the fate of the 13,000 boys who were abducted by the occupation forces and then put in the so-called “de-radicalisation” camps where they are being tortured. These are in fact Nazi-like concentration camps designed to brainwash Kashmiri youth demanding freedom, break their will and prepare the ground for transfer or extermination of the part of the Muslim population.

Masood Khan lamented that thousands of political leaders and activists are under detention who are being subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment. Restrictions on the internet and curbs on freedom of expression are themselves asphyxiating.

“The overall picture is bleak and irredeemable for the time being. This dire situation ought to be changed by outside intervention as no internal dynamic is mounting any critical opposition to the Indian atrocities”, he remarked.