All’s well, Mashallah

When driving across Pakistan, what comes across is the genuine belief amongst most that Covid is an urban phenomenon

When driving across Pakistan, what clearly comes across in many areas is the genuine belief amongst most that Covid-19 is an urban phenomenon. In a recent drive from Karachi to Khyber it became apparent that most Pakistanis are united in the belief that Covid-19 had affected cities and built-up areas of the country while the smaller towns and villages, where there is enough fresh air and space, have been mercifully spared.

Despite strict orders from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), which has been given the onerous task of managing the situation arising from the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan, restaurants and marriage halls remain open for business across most highways. It is business as usual.

But the NCOC is trying its best. From its website, it seems that the NCOC takes itself very seriously. It claims to be the nerve centre “to synergize and articulate a unified national effort against Covid-19 and to implement the decisions of the National Coordination Committee on Covid-19.”

It also explains that NCOC is a one-window operation to “collate, analyse and process information based on digital input and human intelligence across Pakistan through all provinces, AJ&K, GB & ICT dedicated representatives and centres.”

So far so good. The central office of this nerve centre for fighting the pandemic (I can imagine people in PPEs staring at a large white screen in an antiseptically sealed room) are located on Murree Road in Islamabad very near to the Islamabad Convention Centre.

And yet there are those who say that NCOC isn’t taking care of things in its backyard let alone in the faraway plains and mountains of our beautiful country.

Last week, as we made our way into Islamabad from the Bara Kahu side, there was a massive traffic jam barely a kilometre from the NCOC headquarters. The jam was caused by a concert in the Convention Centre. Nearer to the site there was pure pandemonium as thousands had converged to attend. No masks, no SOPs.

This concert was being held some days after the Islamabad administration imposed new Covid-19 restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus amid a fresh wave. These had been taken in line with directives issued in the March 10 meeting of the NCOC.

At the time, it was reported that coronavirus cases continued to increase countrywide due to willful violation of the SOPs specified by the government with 2,664 new infections reported over 24 hours. In Islamabad, the district administration has decided to seal three subsectors of the capital city, among other measures, amid the rising number of cases.

The administration announced the continuation of smart lockdown policy in hotspot areas, early closure of trade centres till 10:00 pm and parks till 6:00 pm. A ban had been imposed on gatherings of more than 300 people in an outdoor event. The question then was: who allowed the concert in the Convention Centre and why has no action been taken so far by the Islamabad administration against this?

The only response in the media seems to have come from actor Mehwish Hayat who expressed her disappointment over the live music concert. Commenting on a tweet where a video of the concert was shared, she said, “This is very disappointing to be having live concerts with so many people while we are still not free of COVID.” She further said, “Cases are on the rise again and we are experiencing a deadly 3rd wave.” Mehwish urged her fans to act responsibly. “Let’s please act responsibly. Remember… Jaan hai to jahaan hai!

In the meantime, the attention of our federal cabinet focused on changing the anti-Covid-19 slogan ‘Corona se darna nahin larna hai’ – i.e. don’t be afraid of corona, fight it – after a recommendation from the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) against it.

A cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan mulled over a petition for changing the anti-Covid tagline, suggesting that it should be replaced with the new slogan ‘Corona waba hai, ehtiyat jis ki shifa hai’ i.e. Corona is pandemic, precaution is its cure. The federal cabinet was of the view that the CII has given its observation on the matter which stated that the pandemic is a warning from Almighty Allah and calls on the masses to return to him and seek forgiveness. So far so good.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2021.

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