LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday called for an immediate lockdown of the country along the same lines as China to combat the coronavirus outbreak in Pakistan.
According to a statement issued by the party, while chairing a meeting of the party’s top leadership via video link, President and National Assembly (NA) Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif said that the party must come up with a national strategy to fight against the viral disease.
He said that he would present the national strategy and implementation proposals on Tuesday and will also announce an economic blueprint to deal with the financial and socioeconomic impact of the pandemic. He also said that he would talk to the nation about the role they should play on the economic, social, political and media fronts.
The PML-N president deliberated on a suggestion regarding a probable shutdown in the country and called for an immediate lockdown along the same lines as China.
During the meeting, Shehbaz established four different teams, vis-à-vis economic team, health task force, political team and media team and directed them to put together comprehensive proposals regarding their fields. Representatives of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) were also consulted with during the meeting while the party president directed to enhance the efforts of educating the people regarding the virus and helping them fight the disease.
The meeting agreed that the entire country is suffering because of the criminal dereliction in the handling of the pilgrims from Iran. They pledged that nobody would be allowed to further jeopardise the health, lives and security of the people of Pakistan with their incompetence and blunders.
The meeting welcomed Shehbaz’s return despite party supreme leader Nawaz Shaif’s ailment and said that the people of Pakistan expect a lot from him and were waiting anxiously for his arrival during these testing times.
The PML-N leadership also agreed to keep a close eye on the government and its lapses. Shahid Khaqan Abaasi, Pervez Rashid, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Mushahidullah Khan, Barjees Tahir and Mushid Husssaid Syed were also present in the meeting.
General Abdul Qadir Baloch, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Khurran Dastgir, Miftah Ismail, Sheza Khawaja, Saira Tarrar, mArriyum Aurangzeb, Shaista Pervez, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Azma Bukhari and Imran Nazir too attended the meeting while Khawaja Asif could not attend the meeting due to issues with telecommunication network.
