KARACHI: Amid fears of suspension of mobile and banking services, citizens thronged vaccination centers to get inoculated against Covid-19 while complete lockdown was witnessed in the city Saturday.
However, the Sindh government also faced criticism from federal government as the latter opposed the lockdown in the city saying it was not a prerogative of the previous.
In response to objections by federal government, the spokesperson for Sindh government and Advisor for Law, Environment & Coastal Development, Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that Sindh Chief Minister apprised concerned quarters of the latest situation of coronavirus and appealed for cooperation from all political and religious parties including citizens.
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After the meeting of the Task Force, the Sindh Chief Minister had also talked to Federal Minister Asad Umar and Dr Faisal Sultan in which it was decided that a notification would be issued by the NCOC but after the announcement of the lockdown, the federal government’ spokesperson objected, saying it was not the prerogative of the Sindh government.
Murtaza expressed these views while addressing a press conference at the Chief Minister’s House. He said that Sindh government shared the draft notification regarding lockdown with the NCOC and we had not spoken orally but in writing. During the press conference, Barrister Murtaza Wahab also showed the documents shared with the NCOC. He said that the federal Government had objected to the ban on inter-provincial transport on which the Sindh government had issued an amended notification. He further said that the NCOC did not say anywhere that lockdown should not be imposed.
“We try to negotiate with the federal government, but unfortunately when these people come on television, their position is always different. I request that this issue must not be brought up in the political arena. We have to save our people from this deadly epidemic,” he said.
I urge the narrators to persuade the people instead of making statements and not to create chaos. “When the Buzdar government imposed lockdown, they did not object and we did not criticize because we knew the seriousness of the coronavirus and the situation in Lahore which is better known to Usman Buzdar.
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People in Islamabad are not aware of the seriousness of Karachi. He added that private hospitals were packed to capacity and government hospitals were gradually filling up.
This was not the job of politicians but of medical experts. Please pay attention to the words of medical experts. Experts on the Task Force said that our doctors are tired and they are getting infected with the virus. It was decided that the SIMs of mobile phones would be blocked, after which the vaccination has increased tremendously in the last four days. He said that 185,000 people had been vaccinated in Sindh in the last 24 hours.
This was great news and InshaAllah the whole Pakistan will benefit from it. He announced that the Sindh government has lifted the ban on motorcycles pillion riding as it was making it difficult for people to reach vaccination centres. “There is lot we can do together to stop the spread of coronavirus. Institutions found violating SOPs and shops will be sealed for one month whether it is a shop or a factory, only the exempted departments will get relief. We should remove our differences for the next 9 days. We are grateful to MQM Pakistan for canceling the Hyderabad rally and I have openly praised it,” he maintained.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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