Asad Umar criticised for morbid Covid comparison

Minister points to lower virus deaths in Pakistan than in India; opposition warns against getting stuck in semantics

ISLAMABAD: Planning Minister Asad Umar, who heads the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) to fight coronavirus pandemic, has sparked a new debate by indicating that Pakistan was doing better than India in terms of fatalities from contagious disease.

Hours after issuing a warning that the nationwide tally of coronavirus cases might double within the next two weeks and could reach 1.2 million by the end of July, the minister, in a tweet, shared a comparison between Pakistan and India that are totally different in size and population.

“Total cumulative deaths due to covid on 14th may : Pakistan 770, India 2,649. Cumulative covid deaths on 14th June : Pakistan 2632, India 9,485. Increase in deaths last month : Pakistan 242% India 258%. There is much we are still learning about covid spread and mortality,” Umar tweeted.

Total cumulative deaths due to covid on 14th may : Pakistan 770, India 2,649. Cumulative covid deaths on 14th June : Pakistan 2632, India 9,485. Increase in deaths last month : Pakistan 242% India 258%. There is much we are still learning about covid spread and mortality.

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) June 14, 2020

However, leaders of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) criticised the minister for presenting such a comparison. They even pointed out that some countries had controlled the virus.

“What is needed from the government is not confusion but clarity of message on the growing dangers of Covid-19. Comparing with India is like saying ‘we are better than the worst’,” PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed told The Express Tribune.

“And let’s not get stuck in semantics of non-issues like ‘lockdown’ or ‘smart lockdown’,” he said. “Instead of quibbling over definitions, it’s high time for the government to show determination that it has the capacity and will to fix the problem, which primarily means protecting lives and livelihoods of the people of Pakistan.”

PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said why didn’t the officials learn anything if they were bent upon following other countries. “If we take worldwide mortality rate into account the figures quoted by Asad Umar paint a horrific picture. Tens of thousands dead! Isn’t he the same guy who said more people die in road accidents than corona,” he said.



“Why doesn’t he compare Pakistan to Bangladesh or Vietnam? Both the countries successfully handled the pandemic. There is no government in Pakistan and God forbid we are heading towards a disaster,” Khokhar added.

Ever since the Covid-19 hit Pakistan, political commentators had pointed out that Prime Minister Imran Khan and the members of the ruling party had time and again asked people not to compare the coronavirus situation in Pakistan with countries having stable economy, small geographical area and less population.

Over and over again, they said, the prime minister has urged people not to compare Pakistan with the US, Europe, China, Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand etc, arguing that these were either powerful economies or their size was not even close to the size of Pakistan’s metropolitan city – Karachi.

However, knowing that both Pakistan and India had no comparison in terms of size, population and economy, they noted, the planning minister compared the number of cases, total deaths, while the prime minister had even offered to share cash distribution programme with India – an offer that was rejected straightaway. “Our stimulus package is as large as the GDP of Pakistan,” India’s external affairs ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava had said, responding to Imran’s offer.

Soon after Umar’s tweet, political analysts and social media users also started questioning the comparison, saying over 1 billion people live in India than in Pakistan and the mismanagement was leading to deaths in both the countries.

Umar had earlier compared the deadly effects of Covid-19 with that of the road accidents in Pakistan arguing that “we still allow cars on roads, because their necessity is greater than the danger of those accidents”.