President asks MNAs to provide ration to needy with well-off people's help

President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday asked the members of the National Assembly (MNAs) to remain in close contact with people of their constituencies and in collaboration with the well off, provide ration to the needy, who had been suffering due to the ongoing lockdown.

The president, in a letter to the MNAs, said they should also make close liaison with the doctors and paramedics in their constituencies, encourage them and meet their requirements. The members of the parliament should appeal to the people to avoid visiting markets unnecessarily and fully implement the precautionary measures to protect themselves from the COVID-19 pandemic, the president said.

President Alvi said the coronavirus had engulfed the entire world, including Pakistan and the only way to counter it was the implementation of precautionary measures. He said the government and religious leaders from across the country, including Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, had agreed on 20-point guidelines for congregational and Tarawih prayers, which were now become a national stance.

The guidelines were finalized on the recommendations of health experts, according to whom offering prayers and performing worship at home was the best and safest way to contain the coronavirus, he added.

The president asked the MNAs that being elected representatives of the people they must play their role to implement all the precautionary measures in the light of 20-point guidelines with the cooperation of district administration and mosque committees so that the nation could successfully come out the critical situation with harmony.