Opposition will be responsible for 2nd lockdown: PM
-Bilawal criticizes govt over rising inflation
-Maryam leaves rally after grandmother’s death
-Shibli advises participants to quarantine themselves
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR: Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally organised on Sunday in Peshawar violated the COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs), raising concerns over becoming a super spreader event as the second wave looms in the country.
According to details, besides rampant violation of the SOPs at the public gathering, the PDM held a lunch ahead of the rally, where opposition leaders mingled with each other without taking proper precautionary measures.
Some of them could be witnessed during the event shaking hands while group selfies of the luncheon also showed lack of implementation on COVID-19 SOPs.Addressing the rally Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government over its “apparent failure in controlling inflation and poverty”.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that corruption could not be eliminated from the country as long as “we won’t stop playing bad and good corrupt.” The PPP leader also accused the ruling party of not fulfilling the promises it made to the people of FATA.
“First there was a flour, sugar, and oil crisis, and now a gas crisis will arise,” he said, adding that people cannot even buy eggs.
Bilawal Bhutto also criticised the accountability process, saying that the National Accountability Bureau targeting opposition for “political revenge” but “does not have the courage” to pursue corruption cases against ruling party leaders. “Country cannot have a strong accountability system until there is one law for all citizens,” the PPP leader concluded. Addressing the rally, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman expressed his condolences over the death of Maryam Nawaz’s grandmother Shamim Akhtar.
He also extended his condolences to the families of Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi over their passing.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz left Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Peshawar rally abruptly after the news of the demise of her grandmother Begum Shamim Akhtar in London. “I came to meet you but I just found out my grandmother passed away in London,” she said in a short address and asked people to pray for the departed soul and the health of her father.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) organised its fourth power show on Sunday in Peshawar, despite the government’s ban on rallies due to increasing cases of coronavirus.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan hinted at a blanket lockdown across Pakistan if cases continued to rise at the rate the country is witnessing at present.
He tweeted: “Pakistan’s second COVID 19 spike data is of concern: Increase in Covid patients on ventilators in last 15 days: Peshawar 200%, Multan 200%, Karachi 148%, Lahore 114%, Islamabad 65%. Multan & Isb Covid ventilators capacity utilisation 70%. Across the world there is a second spike & complete lockdowns in most countries.”
Lashing out at opposition parties’ Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for “continuing with jalsas (public meetings)”, Prime Minister Khan said it is deliberately endangering lives and livelihoods because “if cases continue to rise at the rate we are seeing, we will be compelled to go into complete lockdown & PDM will be responsible for consequences.”
He said the opposition is callously destroying people’s lives and livelihoods in their desperation to get an NRO. “Let me make it clear: they can hold a million jalsas but will not get any NRO,” he reiterated. “I do not want to take measures like a lockdown that will start hurting our economy which at the moment is showing signs of a robust recovery. Unfortunately, the Opposition’s only goal is NRO at whatever cost to the lives of people & the country’s economy,” he added.
Keeping in view the second wave of the novel coronavirus in the country, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz advised the participants of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally in Peshawar to quarantine themselves at their homes.Commenting on the PDM’s Peshawar rally, Shibli Faraz urged the participants to get tested for COVID-19. He maintained, “The coronavirus pandemic is a fact. It is not a fiction.”
The minister said that putting peoples’ lives at stake for meager political gain amid the second wave of the deadly virus showed the PDM’s anti-people policy. He maintained that the opposition’s stubbornness to hold a public meeting in the prevailing situation of resurge of COVID-19 cases in the country exposed their non-democratic and irresponsible conduct.
