Asad Umar terms Khurram Sher Zaman’s statement on Sindh coronavirus figures as ‘irresponsible’

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has termed the statement by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) lawmaker Khurram Sher Zaman about exaggerated coronavirus figures in Sindh as ‘irresponsible’.

Talking to Geo News programme "Naya Pakistan" on Saturday, Umar said the policy decisions that were taken at the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), the government’s nerve centre on coronavirus, were mostly based on the national death toll.

“Khurram Sher Zaman’s statement about exaggerated figures in Sindh was irresponsible,” the minister said. “We are paying a heavy price to contain the spread of the virus.”

Umar’s remarks came in response to question about Zaman’s claims accusing the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh for “exaggerating coronavirus figures and death toll” earlier in the day.

"No other place in the world has been damaged by the coronavirus like Sindh due to the Sindh government," Zaman had said.

Read also: Khurram Sher Zaman accuses Sindh government of exaggerating coronavirus figures

"Each day, these figures [coronavirus cases] are increased based on lies. When we go to hospitals, we find out there are no coronavirus cases there or whether anyone died there [from COVID-19].”

The PTI MPA had said that people's lives were being made difficult by the government in such times of crisis. He said that whenever anyone wanted to retrieve a body from the morgue, he/she was asked to provide a coronavirus certificate to authorities.

"If you go to graveyards, they are trying to make money off the people there as well," he said, accusing the police and authorities of making life difficult for people.

Zaman had also criticised Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah for not taking timely steps in providing relief to the traders and the business community.

The ruling PTI and PPP have been at loggerheads over the coronavirus measures and have accused each other of mismanagement.

Umar, who also heads the NCOC, on Friday had rejected the impression created by the Sindh chief minister that the Centre was imposing its decisions on the provinces.

“It was our desire that the lockdown should be extended, but we agreed to whatever decided at the NCC meeting on Thursday in the larger interest and for the sake of national unity,” Shah had said at a press briefing.

The planning minister said that all decisions were made with the approval of the provincial governments and those where we had disagreements were not included in the final announcement.