- A flawed policy
The easing of the lockdown has been proclaimed as a ‘smart lockdown’ by no less than Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has also taken a bow for introducing the concept to the rest of the world. The only problem is that the policy does not seem to have succeeded, if measured in terms of the number of new infections recorded, or in terms of the number of deaths, in the previous 24 hours. Saturday witnessed 97 deaths, and 4734 new infections, both new records. In the last week or so, every passing day brings a new record both of deaths and of new infections.
The ‘smart lockdown’ of Mr Khan’s imagination includes a strict adherence to the new SOPs, which include the wearing of masks in public, as well as the maintenance of social distancing in both workplace and social situations. It is perhaps unfortunate that the Prime Minister personally does not set an example of either in public, and apparently feels no compunction in being photographed in this. Even from his cricketing days, he would have learnt that public figures are role models. This counts even more when someone is in politics, and is even more so for the Prime Minister. When the Prime Minister is seen in public violating a policy he himself has set, he can well imagine the message he is sending to the very person he is appealing to, the ordinary citizen.
The unseemly haste to ease the lockdown, even though the curve of new infections had not been flattened, nor had testing facilities been put in place for a vigorous testing-contact tracing-retesting programme, makes it seem as if the populace has been left to fend for itself. It appears that the government has not got any ideas left on how to tackle the crisis, whether it is the one of health, or that of the economy, and therefore it wants the ordinary citizen to fend for himself, whether it is for his life, if he catches the dread disease; or for his livelihood, if he stays healthy. Mr Khan should not forget that he has to face an election by 2023 at the latest, and the pandemic is traumatic enough for the voter to remember when exercising his franchise.
