- Smartland or jungleland?
Wherever a decision to reopen businesses has been taken, it followed a surge in screening to ensure that the outbreak had begun to steady. Both in the USA and Europe the move was supposed to be tentative, cautious and provisional. The reopening of businesses was also gradual. Task forces worked out guidelines for each industry and clear practices were designed to ensure the safety of workers and the public at large.
The PTI government had been persuaded by certain lobbies at the start of the pandemic that it would disappear with the advent of the hot weather without causing a big loss of life. The government consequently continued to ignore the threat till the number of citizens reporting virus-positive began to multiply and the opposition raised the issue in the media. The lockdown subsequently ordered was initially observed seriously, but as the federal government continued to belittle the threat, the lockdown as well as measures like social distancing began to be openly violated .
PM’s Adviser on Trade and Investment Razak Dawood has called on the industrial community to be ready to take orders for export as the government had decided to open the export-oriented industries in May. As Pakistan had kept the IT and service sector open during the lockdown, this has led the world importers to look towards Pakistan, according to Mr Dawood. He said Pakistan was already getting orders for textiles, IT, services, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals
Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar has confirmed that with the disease under control, the government is prepared to loosen the lockdown. As things stand, there are already two opinions about the disease, with a number of prominent doctors in the country disagreeing strongly with Mr Umar’s view. One wonders if the issue has been debated at the NCOC, the government’s lead agency in the anti-Covid-19 campaign. A debate in the NCOC is all the more required as one of its functions is to ensure effective coordination between federal and provincial governments in the campaign against the pandemic.
Unless a clear protocol is worked out to ensure the industrial workers safety and a mechanism to oversee and enforce it, the move could lead to a surge in infections leading to a costly about-turn.
