In a coordinated effort to combat the spread of coronavirus in the country, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday decided to unite all political parties as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country jumped to 464.
A senior official at National Assembly Secretariat told Business Recorder that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has started contacts with heads of all political parties on the formation of a parliamentary committee comprising both treasury and opposition leaders to give their input in this regard.
The NA Speaker took the initiative a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan approved the formation of a joint parliamentary committee to effectively tackle the coronavirus, which has almost brought the entire country to a standstill. The Speaker briefed heads of all political parties over the government's steps regarding coronavirus prevention, and the help which it has been getting from the international community, especially China.
The Speaker spoke to PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and appreciated him for his statement to fight the virus together as it is a national crisis. He also assured the Speaker that his party would cooperate with the government to tackle with the pandemic.
The official said that the parliamentary committee which will include members from both government and opposition will forward their suggestions to the government on how to jointly fight the virus.
Talking to Business Recorder Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said that 'we have to counter the challenge of coronavirus with unity and by setting aside our differences.' Declaring coronavirus a serious problem, he said there is no need for point scoring on the issue and parliamentary committee comprising members from both treasury and opposition is certainly a step in the right direction.
He said that the Sindh government is trying hard to combat the deadly coronavirus, adding 'we all have to fight the virus and stand united in this testing time'.
Senator Mushahidullah Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said that coronavirus needs to be tackled at all levels, adding politicians should join hands as there lies the survival of all of us. "Besides taking precautionary measures and following medical guidelines, the government along with other political parties should gear up efforts to effectively take with the coronavirus," he added. He said that formation of a joint parliamentary committee is a good step and the party is ready to cooperate with the government to fight COVID-19 which is fast spreading in the country.
Maulana Muhammad Amjad of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) said that it is the government's failure due to which there is a panic like situation throughout the country as it failed to take precautionary measures on time.
"We will play our due role, whatever we can, to combat the spread of the virus," he added.
Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of Jamat-e-Islami also blamed the government for not taking timely measures to avoid the spread of the virus, saying if people at the Taftan border had been properly taken care of, the situation would not have been this bad.