AJK elections acted as super spreader event for Covid: Umar
Former PTI leader Asad Umar. PHOTO: FILE
National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC)'s chief Asad Umar denounced on Sunday the elections held in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) two weeks ago, which allegedly proliferated Covid cases in the region.
Umar stated that had recommended postponing elections in AJK for a few months in efforts to quell the spread of the virus.
In a tweet, the NCOC chief said he had hoped for “a special vaccination campaign” to be run before the elections.
However, the request was denied and currently AJK’s positivity rate is between 25% to 30%, he added.
“Elections have acted as a super spreader event”, t he fedreal minister maintained.
He also criticised Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan Democratic Movement for holding rallies in Karachi.
Read PDM rejects electoral reforms, AJK results
According to Umar’s tweet, Bilawal had previously ‘threatened’ to hold Prime Minister Imran and other ministers accountable if Covid spread further in the city.
However, "Bilawal is now holding a jalsa this month” in Sindh’s capital, where a lockdown was recently imposed because of increasing Covid cases.
“The worst violations of Covid SOPs in the last one year have come from politicians”, he lamented.
As of Thursday, Pakistan’s positivity rate remained at 8.3%. At least 102 people died due to Covid in a day, and 4,934 people tested positive for it.