Tuesday, April 14, 2020
#BilawalFightsAgainstCorona - Civil society activists criticise Centre for ‘undermining’ Sindh’s fight against coronavirus
Showing their dismay over what they called "undermining role" of the federal government during the COVID-19 crisis in Sindh, a group of civil society activists from the province said on Monday that the federal government’s acts of "sabotaging" the lockdown policy and other steps of the provincial government might pose a serious risk to the health, lives and livelihood of the province's residents.In a joint statement, the civil society activists appreciated the Sindh government, particularly Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, for taking timely and effective steps to contain the spread of coronavirus since its onset.
“It is starkly evident that Prime Minister Imran Khan consciously and deliberately opposed all efforts taken by the Sindh government, and facilitated return of overseas Pakistanis, including pilgrims from Iran and other places, without any quarantine or isolation measures at immigration points, which have now created a serious threat to the people of Pakistan in general and Sindh in particular,” they said in a statement.
Amid severe crises from the pandemic when the nation needed unity at the national level, it was very disappointing that the federal government had not only been undermining the executive authority of the province, but also encroaching on the provincial affairs against the interests of the province, such as ordering law enforcement agencies at the disposal of the provincial government to open roads in violation of the lockdown in a brazen violation of Article 148(2) of the constitution, they said.
“This antagonistic attitude of the federal government has revived a sense of alienation among the people of Sindh. People of Sindh for the first time after the MRD movement have felt an acute sense of alienation, deprivation and unconstitutional domination by the federal government,” the statement said.
“We strongly feel that it is not an appropriate time to widen the gap between the federation and provinces. [The] Prime Minister should rather come forward to forge much needed national unity and offer every possible support to all provinces, allowing them to work for saving precious lives of people with complete authority within the ambit of the Constitution.”
The civil society activists also urged the Sindh government to converge all its energies, resources and efforts to confront the twin menace of COVID-19 and poverty within the province.
“All measures should be employed to secure lives of all frontline soldiers, including doctors, health assistant, nurses, lady health workers, sanitary workers, and police by providing them all required PPEs and other support,” they said.
“At the same time, the Sindh government also needs to adopt a comprehensive mechanism for ration distribution from district to union council level to assuage miseries of masses amid a prolonged yet much needed lockdown.
It also needs to be more transparent with inclusion of representation of a range of stakeholders in district committees so that maximum support reaches the masses facing hardship due to lockdown.
“We also urge the Sindh government to pay special attention to Hyderabad city following the pattern of Karachi and Sukkur. In order to monitor the cases and spread of COVID-19, Hyderabad district also needs to replicate the same centralised monitoring and response mechanism.”
Anis Haroon, Noor Ul Huda Shah, Ahmed Shah, Asad Iqbal Butt, Karamat Ali, Jami Chandio, Naseer Memon, Dr Prof Arfana Mallah, Dr Prof Fahmida Hussain, Ayoob Sheikh, Hoori Noorani, Amar Sindhu, Imdad Hussaini, Dr Prof Touseef Ahmed Khan, Dr Prof Riaz Shaikh and Imdad Chandio were prominent among the 55 civil society activists, who issued the joint statement. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/643911-civil-society-activists-criticise-centre-for-undermining-sindh-s-fight-against-coronavirus
#BilawalFightsAgainstCorona - Bilawal Bhutto calls for unity to fight coronavirus pandemic
Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday briefed Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari over the provincial efforts to tackle coronavirus, ARY NEWS reported.
During a telephonic conversation, the chief minister briefed that the province was trying its best to improve testing capacity while efforts were also underway to provide relief to the public affected from coronavirus lockdown.
Speaking on the occasion, Bilawal Bhutto while lauding Murad Ali Shah said that the Sindh government has undertaken exemplary measures to prevent outbreak of the virus.
“The public confidence on the state has boosted owing to the provincial measures,” he said adding that currently the province leads in available health infrastructure as compared to other parts of the country.
“You have given a face to a people’s government,” Bilawal said to Shah.
He said that the foremost priority of the government should be to save public lives. We all have to unite to fight this pandemic, Bilawal said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan Saturday reached 4,788, according to the National Command and Operation Centre’s latest statistics.
As many as 190 new cases of the COVID-19 were reported across the country during last 24 hours. So far 762 patients have recovered from the deadly virus, whereas the death toll has surged to 71.
Highest 25 deaths were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22 in Sindh, 19 in Punjab, three in GB and one was reported in Islamabad and Balochistan.
According to the breakup of the cases province-wise Punjab tops the list with 2,336 cases, while Sindh has recorded 1,214 coronavirus cases so far.
656 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 220 in Balochistan, 113 in Islamabad, 215 in Gilgit Baltistan and 34 cases were reported in Azad Kashmir.
Overall 48 per cent of the cases are said to be of local transmission in the country while rest are of the nationals coming from abroad.
The health authorities have overall conducted 57,836 tests including 2,457 tests during the last 24 hours.
#BilawalFightsAgainstCorona - علی زیدی بھی بینظیر کا نام سن کر پریشان
کراچی میں وفاقی وزیر بحری امور علی زیدی بھی سابق وزیراعظم بینظیر بھٹو کا نام سن کر پریشان ہوگئے۔
وفاقی وزیر نے چینیسر گوٹھ میں گورنمنٹ سیکنڈری بوائز اسکول میں احساس کفالت پروگرام میں شرکت کی، جہاں سماجی فاصلے کا خیال نہیں رکھا گیا۔
میڈیا سے گفتگو میں احساس پروگرام کے دی جارہی رقم کے حوالے سے وضاحت کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ مستحقین کو رقم بینظیر بھٹو،بلاول بھٹو زرداری یا عمران خان نہیں دے بلکہ حکومت دے رہی ہے۔
انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ احساس پروگرام کے تحت عوام کو دی جارہی رقم عوام کا ہی پیسہ ہے جو ان پر ہی خرچ کیا جارہا ہے۔
علی زیدی نے کہا کہ بندرگاہ پر یومیہ اجرت والوں کو گھروں میں رہنے کے احکامات دیے ہیں انہیں تنخواہیں ادا کردی گئی ہیں۔
ان کا کہنا تھاکہ وزیراعظم عمران خان کا احساس پروگرام ملکی تاریخ کا سب سے بڑا ریلیف پروگرام ہے اور اس پروگرام سے اب تک ہزاروں مستحقین استفادہ کر چکے ہیں۔
#BilawalFightsAgainstCorona - Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has always talked about fighting COVID, jointly
Secretary Information Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians Dr. Nafisa Shah said that Firdous Ashiq Awan is criticising the chief minister Sindh without reading his statement.
Shah said that Sued Murad Ali Shah had asked Imran Khan to take lead in the fight against coronavirus so how it can be a dividing narrative. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has always talked about fighting this virus jointly. Shah said that federal government should take seriously the recommendations of Sindh government and chalk out a policy. She said that Pakistan does not have enough health resources so lockdown will work to save the lives of the people.
Dr. Shah said that Pakistan should adopt one single policy to fight coronavirus and no province can alone fight with this virus. Federal government needs to work with provinces, she concluded.