Stop Covid blame game, Shibli tells opposition

Information minister says PPP chairman misleading people

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Shibli Faraz on Saturday asked opposition parties to refrain from pointing fingers at the federal government for the coronavirus situation in the country and act responsibly on the issue.

Responding to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s allegations earlier in the day, the minister said it was unfortunate that some political parties were indulging in point-scoring on the issue of Covid-19.

“Bilawal’s allegations were baseless and aimed at misleading the people,” he said addressing a news conference along with Federal Communications and Postal Services Minister Murad Saeed.

“Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was part of the decision-making process at the National Coordination and Operation Centre [NCOC], but he has a habit of issuing baseless statements later,” he added.

“The opposition can’t digest the way the PTI government has handled the crisis.”

The minister because of sagacious policies of the PTI government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan was tackling the pandemic far better than many advanced countries, which had robust economies and modern healthcare systems.

Shibli said the government had adopted a comprehensive roadmap to handle the coronavirus challenge which was being appreciated at the international level.

“The government has adopted the policy of saving lives as well as protecting the vulnerable segments of the society from starvation. Despite economic constraints, the government gave a mammoth stimulus package of Rs1.2 trillion to provide cushion and support to every segment of the society affected by the contagion.”

He said NCOC was chalking out efficient strategies all the time to meet the challenge.

“All the stakeholders including medical experts and chief ministers of the provinces are part of the NCOC, which had been collecting and monitoring data on daily basis and formulating the future course of action.”

The minister said every loss of human life due to the pandemic was regrettable but so far the loss of lives and number of patients in the country were far less than what experts had estimated and that was the manifestation of the success of the policy adopted by the government.

Speaking on the occasion, Murad said healthcare was a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment but the federal government was still trying its best to facilitate the provinces in dealing with the pandemic.

“The PTI government is making decisions keeping in view miseries of the people affected by the virus and had provided a support package to industrial sector and the people who have lost their jobs,” he added.

The minister further said sanitisers and face masks were now being produced domestically and the country could also export personal protective equipment.