Fight against coronavirus: Opposition MPs not satisfied with govt strategy

[caption id="attachment_579735" align="alignnone" width="2560"] A traveler is checked with a thermal scanner by a public health worker at the El Salvador International Airport Saint Oscar Romero y Galdamez as El Salvador puts in measures due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) concerns, in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas[/caption]

The opposition political parties are not satisfied with the measures taken by the government to combat Covid-19 pandemic, saying there is no unified strategy in collaboration with all the provinces to effectively take on the deadly disease.

Talking to Business Recorder, lawmakers from various political parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami were unanimous in saying the government should have united all the political parties on a one point agenda: united front against Covid-19.

Senior PML-N leader Senator Mushahidullah Khan flayed the government's 'flawed' strategy to fight the novel coronavirus more effectively rather than focusing on 'political scoring' through initiatives such as formation of "tiger force" to distribute relief goods.

"The Prime Minister should have taken input from all the political parties, but he is not even ready to talk to the opposition leaders through video conference, which shows how seriously he takes the pandemic," he maintained.

He said that opposition leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif had forwarded a number of proposals, including meetings of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) on daily basis and formation of a parliamentary oversight committee instead of creating the 'so-called' tiger force as a 'political stunt'.

The government, he continued should immediately convene meetings of both Senate and National Assembly standing committees on health to apprise the lawmakers about the day to day development regarding the virus, which is going from bad to worse with each passing day.

"But, it is quite unfortunate that the parliament has also locked down, which shows the non-seriousness of the government...the parliament should not be made irrelevant at a time when we are passing through a difficult time," he added.

PPP's parliamentary leader in Senate Senator Sherry Rehman said that 'these are very trying times for the whole country, and parliament is the best platform to shape unified responses that address the urgent needs of our people, while coordinating an evolving situation across Pakistan.'

"The need of the hour is that the Parliament should adapt itself to extraordinary circumstances and ramp up e-tech capacity to temporarily shift towards a virtual parliament," she said.

She pointed out that there is clearly a huge resource-crunch hitting all sectors as lock downs stretch on, adding that it is a national challenge that requires regular messaging and creation of distancing space in a country with a large portion of the population living in cramped spaces, where everything is done communally, including business, governance, prayer and schooling, among many other things.

She said that parliament should take the lead in working on all such issues creatively and transparently, in the spirit of national unity. "International aid coming into Pakistan must be monitored and placed under parliamentary oversight," she said, adding that committee meetings such as Health, Finance, Planning, IT, Interior, Law and others must be convened online to plan for contingent futures.

She said that the Committee on Health must start figuring out how we will provide for upcoming emergencies, protect our health professionals on the front-line, and get on with pooling our resources to fight this pandemic. "None of this can be ignored and must be fast-tracked immediately by the custodians of both the Senate and the NA," she asserted.

Pakistan's economy is on ventilator, and little coordination is often visible, she said, adding that every sector, quite literally needs adaptation, as each province fights to test and treat cases while attempting to lower transmission rates of the virus.

At the same time, she said that our informal sector and daily wagers are in urgent need of social protection, while health professionals are in desperate need of equipment.

Mufti Abrar, a senior JUI-F leader, came down hard on the government for ignoring the input from the mainstream political parties at a time when the country needed collective efforts.

He said that all differences apart with the ruling PTI, the JUI-F wants a united approach at this difficult time 'as together we can defeat the deadly virus'.

MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of Jamaat-e-Islami pointed out that the failure of the leadership of the ruling PTI will create an anarchy like situation in the country, as there are serious flaws in government strategy with regard to the lockdown as well as providing relief to the poor.

He said that overcoming the virus is not the only challenge, as the responsibility of the state is also to ensure that no one should die of hunger.

"Jamaat-e-Islami and its relief workers are on the ground without any support from the government and they are extending not only medical and logistic supports to the local administrations across the country, but also engaged in distributing ration among the needy," he added.

However, senior PTI leader and Minister for Narcotics Control Senator Azam Swati said that 'this is not the time for political point scoring and the opposition is welcomed to forward their proposals in the parliamentary committee already constituted by Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser.

He said that Qaiser has constituted "parliamentary committee on coronavirus disease with representation of all political parties, including the opposition parties in the parliament.

The Speaker last month constituted the 25-member parliamentary committee with federal ministers Shah Mahmood Qureshi of PTI, Khalid Maqbool Siddique of MQM-P, Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema of PML-Q, MNAs Khawaja Asif of PML-N, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf of PPP and Asad Mehmood of JUI-F, Khalid Hussain Magsi of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Nawabzada Shah Zain Bugti of Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP), Amir Haider Khan Hoti of ANP, Mohammad Akthar Mengal of BNP-M and Ghaus Bux Khan Mehar of GDA.

From the Senate, the committee members are Shibli Faraz [PTI], Mushahidullah Khan [PML-N], Sherry Rehman [PPP], Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif [MQM-P], Aurangzeb Khan [Fata], Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo [National Party], Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi [JUI-F], Siraj Ul Haq [JI], Mohammad Usman Khan Kakar [PkMAP], Sitara Ayaz [ANP], Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini [BNP-M], Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah [Functional League] and Anwar ul Haq Kakar [BAP].

Federal ministers Pervez Khattak, Asad Umar and Senator Azam Khan Swati and Prime Minister's Advisor and Special Assistant Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Dr Zafar Mirza, respectively are ex-officio members of the committee.