PM Imran’s address

The Prime Minister’s supposed effort to reassure Pakistanis has only served to further concerns about the government’s priorities and ability to handle the Covid-19 coronavirus. Even at the start, it seemed uncertain what point he was trying to make. “I want to tell all of you, this virus will spread,” was followed by concern over the “state of panic” taking hold of the country. While much of the world is going virtual to make social distancing easier, PM Imran Khan categorically ruled out closing offices. Instead, he tried to reassure people that the virus only kills “four or five” per cent of people who catch it. The actual mortality rate is closer to 3%, though, it is significantly higher for elderly people. Given the fact that young carriers are often asymptomatic, if they do get infected and return to the joint family homes where most Pakistanis still live, it is their retiree parents who will suffer the consequences.

And while it is true that “Pakistan’s situation is not the same as the US or Europe”, this would have been a golden opportunity to begin the much-hyped digital revolution through government support for businesses that allow employees to work remotely. Another empty reassurance was about how he has told Pakistani embassies to “fully assist” citizens abroad. Perhaps he did not recognise the irony of admitting how the government had decided to let Pakistani students in Wuhan — the epicentre of the disease — fend for themselves after refusing to repatriate them.

Meanwhile, provinces are being forced to fend for themselves. On the same day that the number of confirmed cases in Sindh crossed 100, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said he is trying to increase coronavirus testing capacity, and the government has closed all restaurants and malls for 15 days. Intercity bus services are also being suspended, while schools and universities were already closed. The government has also established a Rs3 billion coronavirus relief fund. Unfortunately, the disease will keep spreading, because even though avoiding it is just a matter of staying clean, avoiding physical contact, and social distancing, pushing and shoving in public is a national pastime.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2020.

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