Qureshi briefs Senate on govt’s COVID-19 containment strategy

Islamabad: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshid on Tuesday apprised the Senate about the government strategy, being followed to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, in consultation with all federating units.

Briefing the House, which convened it session after a break of almost 68-days due to the virus outbreak, he said a clear national strategy was in place without any ‘confusion’ to stem the virus spread. “However, the government is ready to incorporate all positives input, given by the opposition parties in the Senate, into the national strategy,” he said.

Declaring the COVID-19 an ‘unprecedented challenge,’ he said the government formed National Coordination Committee (NCC), National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) for taking collective decisions and effective implementations of the virus-preventive measures across the country.

Qureshi said all stakeholders including provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, had representation in the NCC and NCOC and their suggestions were given due importance and incorporated in the national strategy.

The minister indicated that imposing lockdown was not a solution, but a part of the strategy to control the virus spread, and said “the complete solution is only to find the vaccine, which may take months, and even years.”

The foreign minister said the Parliament had to play its vital role in the present crisis as was done in parliamentary democracies. It should give its input to implement the national strategy on COVID-19, he added.

He noted that the challenge of coronavirus was unprecedented for Pakistan and the world.

Shah Mehmood said lockdown was not a proper solution to combat the COVID-19. The world would get rid of coronavirus when its cure or vaccine would be found in the next 18 to 20 months, while it was now trying to contain the disease.

He said no government in the world, even those of the most developed countries, was prepared to tackle the pandemic when it struck. Tens of thousands of people had died due to the disease in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, he added.

The minister said the number of deaths in Pakistan were low as compared to the world, while the infection rate was also low against the predictions.

He said when the pandemic started the National Coordination Committee, and the National Command and Operation Center immediately started meetings, received input from all the provinces and took collective decisions.

The National Command and Control Center, he said, met daily and took updates from the provinces with an objective to build consensus.

Responding to a point raised by Sherry Rehman, the foreign minister said the prime minister was in the federal capital and daily presiding over meetings on COVID-19.

He also categorically rejected the impression that the federal government was working to scrap 18th constitutional amendment. The PTI had no majority to pass any constitutional amendment, he added. However, he sought the opposition support to remove weakness in the 18th amendment.

Regarding ordinance returned by the governor Sindh, the minister said the provincial government could not legislate on those issues which were in domain of the federal government. The governor Sindh gave his constitutional viewpoint, he added.

He also rejected the impression that discrimination was being done with Sindh in distribution of relief goods and other assistance. More share was given to Sindh as compared to other provinces, he mentioned.

He said under the Ehsaas Kilfalat Programme, Rs 26 billion were given to 2.3 million families in Sindh.

The federal government, he said, initiated the economic stimulus programme to give financial assistance to the provinces. Some 0.5 million protective suits and millions of masks were distributed among the provinces.

Regarding global economic recession due to COVID-19, Shah Mehmood said the pandemic would affect the whole world economy including US, Europe and Gulf countries. The country’s exports also witnessed decrease during March and April as compared to last year, he added.

He said it was also estimated that foreign remittance would decline about 20-23 per cent.

The minister urged the opposition parties to rise above provincial considerations and act according to the national interest.

The government eased the lockdown at a time when other countries were also moving in the same direction, he remarked. It was feared that the world economy would contract by three percent.

He said Pakistan was facing the twin challenges of protecting the people of Pakistan from hunger and poverty, besides slowing down the curve of number of infections.

Pakistan’s economy, he added, could not afford a prolonged lockdown as it was feared that 18 million people would lose their jobs and 20 to 70 million could go below the poverty line.

He appreciated the efforts of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, but said he could not completely implement the lockdown in many areas of the province.

The minister criticised the mentality of Modi-led government in India for pursuing the Hindutva ideology and blaming the Muslims for the spread of coronavirus.

He said situation in Indian held Kashmir was very serious. The innocent Kashmiri people had been in siege since August 2019, he added.

The Indian forces have started massacre of innocent Kashmiri people in guise of coronavirus and their bodies were also not being handed over to their heirs.

The foreign minister said India had also changed domicile rules in the occupied valley to settle non-Kashmir people.

He said Pakistan had raised the issue at all international fora including OIC.