After the delivery of his speech at Parliamentary Leaders Video Conference called by the National Assembly Speakers Asad Qaisar on coronavirus breakout, Prime Minister Imran Khan went offline and may have attended other important official engagements. Although other senior leaders of ruling PTI including Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were present in the conference but leadership of opposition parties took the absence of Prime Minister as personal affront and preferred misplaced self-esteem over important discussion on a human tragedy of global dimension. PML-N President and leader of the opposition Shabaz Sharif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari walked out of Parliamentary leaders Conference and did not give their input how to address the spreading natural calamity of coronavirus.
Later in a tweet Shabaz Sharif described Prime Minister’s going offline as deliberate absence from the conference to avoid listen the point of view of opposition on an issue of national importance. Perhaps leader of the opposition forgot that cabinet meeting were seldom held and presided over by the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the last tenure of PML-N government. There were instances that ECNEC meetings were presided by his finance Minister Ishaq Dar, a practice then discarded by his successor former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had made his Mayfair Apartments in London an official secretariat and on several occasions ran affairs of the state from abroad, a precedent that cannot be found in other parliamentary or presidential democracies. Likewise, PPP Chairman is oblivious of the fact that on number of occasions, meetings of Sindh Cabinet had been held at the residence of former President Asif Ali Zardari in Dubai. Were these actions not against the standard rules of business for running a government?
In his speech, Prime Minister Imran Khan gave and update of government measures for the containment of COVID-19 and told reasons against the imposition of total lockdown across the country. He said that government alone cannot win the battle against the contagion and emphasised for national efforts to defeat coronavirus. He urged the opposition to stand shoulder to shoulder with government in this battle.
One may remind opposition leaders how gracefully Prime Ministers and Presidents of countries of the region shared their views on coronavirus pandemic in the recent SARC Tele-Conference. The moot was attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendral Modi, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hassena Wajid, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Sri Lanka President Gotabya Rajpaksha, Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohammad Solih, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharinaoli and Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering. Pakistan was represented by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr. Zafar Mirza.
Coronavirus is spreading because people are not taking the health advisory and call for social distancing. Collective efforts are need by political leaders, Ulema and Religious Scholars and members of civil society to curb this menace. Opposition leaders must not abandon their responsibility of educating public opinion to take necessary precautionary measures. There are media reports that mishandling of coronavirus infected dead bodies during the ritual of funeral prayer and burial process are becoming a source of COVID-19 clusters. Social distancing rule was overlooked during the funeral of Captain (Rtd) Shahida Bibi at village Akra Mora near Sohawa Town of district Jehlum The village has to seal by local administration for fear of spell over of infection to nearby villages. Likewise the gathering of crowds during food packets distribution increases the risk of spreading the infections. Here comes crucial role of opposition to buttress the efforts of the government of containing the virus, which the former is yet to perform. The coronavirus affected deserving families will get Rs.12, 000 cash grant. The opposition can give useful recommendations for putting in place an efficient mechanism for the provision of this grant. Walk-out of meetings on this most serious issue serves no useful purpose.
