Dear Prime Minister-it is not a business as usual

Difficult situations demands bold and hard decisions 

Pakistani prime Minister Imran Khan is not convinced to impose lockdown in Pakistan. He wants to continue the business as usual in the middle of an epidemic. That is not possible in the turbulent times.  Coronavirus is an epidemic. It is taking lives around the world. Pandemic is not a business as usual. 

The reluctance shown by the prime minister to take bold and difficult decisions lost 

Prime Minister Imran khan is arguing that Pakistan cannot afford to impose a total lockdown. 25% of the people in the country live below the poverty line. What will happen to them if I go ahead with the lockdown?"

The Prime Minister argued in an address to the nation that if the situation in the country had escalated as it had in Italy and China he would have thought about imposing a lockdown. “Let me tell you what a lockdown is. A lockdown means putting a curfew and restricting people to their homes with the military on the streets.”

Dear Prime Minister-you have valid concerns regarding the livelihood of daily wage labourers and poorer sections of society. You also have valid concerns regarding the economy. But just imagine dear Prime Minister if coronavirus started to spread across the country. As you know- we live in joint family system in which many people lives under one roof.

It will spread in the crowded small houses in poorer neighbourhoods and lower middle class areas like a wild fire. If one infected person in Italy and China could infect so many people just imagine sir what will happen here.

Our public health system is very weak and cannot cope with an epidemic. Our health system is underfunded and lack medical equipment and facilities. So for us- the best option is to go for a lockdown of couple of weeks to save lives and the economy in the long run. Precautionary measures are important in this situation.

Dear Prime Minister- Italy is in the grip of coronavirus because its government failed to take timely decisions. It tried to save businesses and economy. It showed reluctance to impose lockdown and restrictions on the movement of people. Italy did not take the first few cases of coronavirus seriously. The Italy is now facing COVID-19 pandemic that has already taken more than 6,000 lives.

China-Russia and Cuba is trying to help Italy to contain and curb the epidemic. The lesson from China and Italy is that best way to fight against coronavirus epidemic is to stop the spread at the beginning. The lock down is the only effective way to stop the spread so far.

There is lesson that other nations can learn from Italy- the lockdown is effective before the outbreak of virus. Once it spread to different cities and areas-it become difficult to contain. The Italian government did not take the first few cases seriously and failed to take containing measures.

The best way to contain the coronavirus is to impose lockdown before the outbreak. Don’t wait for the spread to impose the lockdown to save lives. The Italian government tried to save the economy and showed reluctance in imposing the lockdown. Now both human lives and economy are suffering.

The local authorities in Wuhan in China made some mistakes in the beginning. But Chinese government intervened and controls the situation. The government completely locked down the Wuhan city and Hubei province and cut it off from rest of china. These measures helped to control the spread.

The Western media and even governments criticised the lock down and other strict measures of quarantine in the beginning. But these measures proved effective in the end. The Chinese government quarantines the millions into homes and self-isolation for 10 weeks. The Chinese government spends huge amount of financial resources to control the epidemic.

Dear Prime Minister-the unusual situations and abnormal circumstances demands timely and correct decisions and hard measures. Please support the decisions of Sindh government to lockdown the province. The Punjab government is also imposing the lockdown in the province. Baluchistan is already under partial lockdown.  

We can concentrate on businesses and economic costs under the normal situations and circumstances but when an epidemic is knocking at our doors-we cannot take it as a business as usual. The choice is clear dear prime minister- put the people first or the economy and businesses.

Italian government tried to save the economy and businesses and made the people vulnerable in the process. Now both human lives and economy is suffering. Sometimes we have to make decisions and take measures to save lives which are not our priority and we might not personally like them. But we take them to protect the most important asset of a country-the people.    

                                                                   The editor