PTI urges Sindh govt to consider easing down lockdown, announce post April 14 strategy

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) Sindh parliamentarians on Wednesday criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led provincial government, saying it had failed at trying to keep people at home to limit the spread of COVID-19, reported The News.

PTI’s Firdous Shamim Naqvi, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, while addressing a press conference in Karachi along with other leaders of the party, said Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah should consider easing the lockdown after ensuring the implementation of a code of conduct regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

“It will provide relief to most people, particularly the needy, while exposing a minimum number to the coronavirus threat,” he said.

Naqvi suggested that market hours should be increased to cope with the expected rush of buyers in local bazaars. He said on one day, garment shops should be allowed to open,, and on the other days, the rest of the shops should be allowed to operate. He also demanded that the provincial government announce its future strategy regarding the lockdown well before April 14, which is the date to which the lockdown has been extended by the Sindh government.

Sindh lockdown rules to be relaxed after April 14: Saeed Ghani

Criticising the Sindh government for "not fulfilling a single promise it made at the time of the announcement of the lockdown," the PTI leader said people, particularly the daily wagers who had been badly affected because of the lockdown, could not receive free rations. 

“People who are dying from hunger will be compelled to take to the streets and the government will not be in a position to control it,” Naqvi remarked.

He said the residents of Sindh wanted to know when the lockdown would end and who would deliver rations at their houses. “More than two weeks into the lockdown, the Sindh government still has no answer to these questions,” he said.

Naqvi also criticised K-Electric, saying that it had become an anti-people company and was harassing its consumers by sending them heavy average bills. He said Karachi, which was the backbone for the economy of Pakistan, had been witnessing the slow death of the economy. “

Haleem Adil Sheikh, the PTI parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly, remarked that his party had suggested a proper strategy to deal with the pandemic, but the Sindh government did not listen to their advice.

Read also: Doctors push Sindh govt to extend lockdown, say slum-dwellers at risk from coronavirus

He said the provincial government had abruptly closed down schools and halls. “Now this government is not even able to distribute rations. Where did the promised two million bags of rations go?” he asked.

Sheikh said the PPP was exhibiting dishonesty even during the coronavirus crisis. The salaries of the assembly members and government employees had been deducted but nobody knew where these funds had gone, he remarked.

The PTI leader was of the view that the situation in Sindh was leading towards a civil war. He asked if the Sindh government wanted people to take up arms. 

“Hungry people will soon hold the rulers by their collars and they will not forgive the provincial government if relief is not provided to them.”

Khurrum Sher Zaman, the PTI Karachi president and MPA, said the planning of Sindh CM regarding the lockdown had turned out to be poor. “The Sindh government and its ministers are nowhere to be seen. Hospitals neither have kits to test coronavirus nor have doctors been given PPEs [personal protective equipment] and hospital staff is utterly unsafe.”

Stating that coronavirus cases amongst doctors were worrisome, Zaman asked the Sindh government to stop inflicting 'cruelty' on the people of Sindh. He asked the CM to formulate a strategy on coronavirus and said the PTI would fully support him in this regard.

PTI MNA Aftab Siddiqui said in some other countries, thousands of people had died but they did not close down their routine life. He said instead of relaxing the lockdown, the provincial government was further tightening it. He urged the government to take heed of the plight of common people and relax the lockdown.