Mazari censures UK govt for retaining Pakistan on red list

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari on Monday criticised the British government for retaining Pakistan on its red list calling the measure 'ridiculous'.

The British government placed Pakistan and India on the red list on April 2 and 19, respectively. However, in an updated list, the government announced that India, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE would be moved to the amber list from August 8.

A day earlier it was reported that UK senior health official JO Churchill has said that Pakistan was being retained on Britain’s “red list” due to the "worsening Covid-19 situation and low testing rates".

"UK gov[ernmen]t, dominated by Indophiles and despite globally documented India's continuing disastrous handling of Covid pandemic, moved India to Amber List but keeps Pak on Red [list]; then under pressure from Opp[osition] MPs gives feeble excuse Pak didn't share data," Minister Mazari said in a tweet.

She further stated that the British government had never asked for Pakistan's Covid-19 data which was already publicly available as the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has a centralised database, which is updated daily and added that it was also being shared with the UK High Commission.

"Earlier UK govt had given another excuse - that more Pak passengers than Indians tested positive! Shifting goalposts!" the minister added.

Read More: Pakistan retained on ‘red list’ due to ‘deteriorating Covid situation’: UK

In a letter dated August 6, Churchill while explaining the reason for keeping Pakistan on the red list of countries said the UK’s Joint Biosecurity Centre continues to assess risk based on factors including incidence, trends in deaths/hospitalisations, exported cases as well as testing and test positivity rates.

Her response comes after Pakistan including several members of the British House of Commons slammed the UK government for keeping Pakistan on its red list of countries at the latest coronavirus travel update while removing India from it.

“In Pakistan, the combination of a deteriorating epidemiological situation, combined with low testing rates and limited genomic surveillance, presents a high risk that an outbreak of a new variant, or existing VoC [variant of concern], will not be identified before it is imported to the UK,” she said in a letter.