Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday held the federal government responsible for the coronavirus spread in Pakistan and said the Sindh government’s efforts in this regard were deliberately sabotaged by the PTI leadership, a private TV channel reported.
Speaking to media in Karachi, Bilawal claimed that the federal government is ‘playing with hospital numbers’ to fool people into believing that hospital capacities are not full. He criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for creating confusion among the masses regarding the coronavirus. “Coronavirus was deliberately spread in Pakistan. We wanted to save the people of this country from the virus but our efforts were sabotaged by the Centre and the ruling party,” he said. “Through misinformation, character assassination and deliberate sabotage, the federal government opposed us tooth and nail,” he further said. “Our PM says coronavirus has spread and we have to live with it,” he said, adding, “The disinformation is currently the biggest challenge that we are facing.”
The PPP chairman said the provincial government’s efforts were challenged at every forum and “now we see that Pakistan’s per capita daily mortality rate is ahead of India.” “We have more cases than China, who is responsible for this,” he asked.
While indirectly referring to a Supreme Court order in which the authorities were directed to adopt a uniformed approach towards coronavirus, Bilawal said the court’s directives limited province’s freedom to take independent decisions. “Our hospitals are now filling, someone has to take responsibility,” he said. “They [federal] government should have listened to the doctors who are working day and night on the frontlines,” he added, and demanded security allowance for the doctors and healthcare professionals who are putting their lives in danger to treat Covid-19 patients. “He [prime minister] never addressed concerns of those at the frontlines or those labour union leaders,” he said. “They talk of labourers but only meet businessmen and industrialists,” he added.
Taking strong exception to the Pakistan Steel Mills crisis, Bilawal questioned the rationale behind the sacking of thousands of workers during the pandemic. “How can they lay off these labourers when the Sindh government has imposed a ban on firing employees?” The Sindh government won’t let this happen, he said.
“We will challenge this injustice,” he said, adding, “the federal government has abandoned poor labours of this country.”
The PPP chairman also criticised the Centre for not helping the provincial government on locust attacks. “Sindh chief minister has taken up the issue but has received no response.”
Reacting to Bilawal’s comments, Information Minister Shibli Faraz asked political parties especially the opposition to act responsibly and avoid blame game on tackling of the challenge of coronavirus pandemic. He said unfortunately some political parties were indulging in political point scoring on the issue of coronavirus. He said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was part and parcel of decision making process in the NCOC, but he had the habit of issuing baseless statements later, adding the opposition cannot digest the way the PTI government had handed the crisis. He said PPP Chairman Bilwal Bhutto Zardari has made totally baseless allegations against the federal government which is an effort to mislead the masses.
