The Supreme Court’s (SC) order for reopening shopping malls and markets across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic received mixed reactions from people as well as politicians.
The top court bench, in its written order, said that it was “not at all satisfied” by the report presented by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), saying that it could “find no reason why so much money is being spent on this coronavirus”.
“There are other serious ailments prevailing in the country, from which people are dying daily and those ailments are not being catered and the coronavirus, which apparently is not a pandemic in Pakistan, is swallowing huge money,” the court order read.
Hours after the written order was issued, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took to Twitter to express his views on the court’s decision.
“Hoping sanity prevails in the highest court of our land. I don’t want to believe that the superior judiciary would pass any judgment endangering the health and lives of the people of Pakistan,” he said. “I’m sure all honourable judges will give judgements based on facts & medical realities.”
In another tweet, he asked whether we are “doing all we can to support our heroes?”, referring to medics.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry expressed serious concerns over the government’s decision of prematurely lifting the coronavirus lockdown, saying the Covid-19 cases will peak in Pakistan by mid-June.
The minister, through his official Twitter handle, said that a committee comprising experts at the Ministry of Science and Technology have stressed upon three points related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the experts have forecast the Covid-19 cases would peak by mid-June and with that, they have rejected the theory of “herd-immunity”, claiming that it could be too dangerous and risky for the nation. Experts also believe, he added, that coronavirus is not just a flu but far more complicated than that.
Fawad further that lockdown should not be lifted without prior safety precautions. The only way forward is Prime Minister Imran Khan’s idea of smart lockdown, he maintained.
Najam Ali, another Twitter user wrote, “To be fair to the SC, if govt could not enforce lockdown and all kind of activities were already happening then what was the rationale of keeping shopping malls closed? We do understand that judicial overreach must be resisted but the govt was itself to blame for this confusion.”
