- The Prime Minister should have shown more leadership
The covid-19 outbreak throughout the world has brought people together. While some families have spent their quarantine time together, others have stayed apart. In general, the countries who have managed to flatten the curve of rising cases have had strong cooperation from their citizens coupled with an exceptional display of leadership. Strict lockdowns and adherence to the rules has helped some countries stay on top of the pandemic. Owing to the systematic fight which these countries fought, they have now gradually started to ease down lockdown restrictions and return to normalcy, subject to social distancing rules.
Pakistan, on the other hand, is one of those peculiar countries which decide to embrace the pandemic in a literal sense. The lockdown restrictions started to ease down the day we recorded our highest number of cases which, has since then been growing every day. The Prime Minister of our country remains steadfast in his resolve that the lockdown is not the solution to the pandemic and the economy of the country is more important. The common man cannot be allowed to suffer the disastrous effects of an economic meltdown, concludes our PM in most of his addresses to the nation. He further goes on to reassure the citizenry that the covid-19 virus causes a simple flu which gets better in a few days and there was nothing to worry about.
The increase in cases has risen from hundreds to thousands each day as the lockdown has completely been lifted and PM Khan’s economy is back on track at the cost of an overwhelmed healthcare system which will soon collapse, under the present circumstances. The World Health Organization, closely monitoring the situation in Pakistan, has officially advised the Punjab government to impose a strict two-week lockdown in the province in order to counter the spread. While the letter brewed some sense in the provincial government and a lockdown was recommended, the Prime Minister, for reasons solely known to him, rejected the idea over the weekend. He reiterated his stance of not being able to afford a lockdown due to economic distress.
Wearing a mask and washing our hands in itself is a hefty task for us, let alone complying with all the SOPs. They say everyone gets what they deserve. It appears to be true in our case. While we continue to profit on the lives of people and play upon the anxieties of the citizens, we continue to seek Divine help which would put is out of our misery soon. We offer prayers with the same contentment even though the grains churning in our stomach have been earned by selling our souls
The Prime Minister, though widely claimed to have exceptional leadership skills, has failed to stay true to his oath he had taken. Wrong decisions at the wrong time have brought the country where it currently is, battling a pandemic with negligible health support and a dense population. The government and even the Supreme Court are of the view that the covid-19 outbreak is not a pandemic as far as Pakistan is considered, though the latter has recalled its order where these views were expressed.
We are simply faced with a situation where our leader is not aware of his own population and country. He expects the citizens to comply with SOPs, observe social distancing rules, wear a mask, avoid large gatherings and stay indoors if necessary. He also expects the people to be cooperative and compliant with these rules. In that case, he simply doesn’t know the country he rules. We are a blended mix of illiteracy, stubbornness and lack of morality. According to us, the whole pandemic is a conspiracy to pull in aid and the government is exaggerating the number of deaths and cases due to the pandemic. We are also the same people who sell life-saving drugs at ten times the price because economic conditions are currently harsh. not to mention the various kinds of masks and sanitizers sold at exorbitant prices from which we have been able to maintain economic stability. Some plasma donors also take precedence who, while “donating” plasma, charge hundreds of thousands and feed on the anxiousness of those trying to save their loved ones. What a fine way of earning a livelihood.
Then comes the set of people actively advocating their respective theories and encouraging people to be carefree as, according to them, covid-19 is a sham. This includes those mobs who have attacked hospitals, blaming them for killing their loved ones by a dose of lethal injection, under the guise of the coronavirus. And also the ones spreading herbal cures for the coronavirus and guaranteeing results within hours. Amidst the pandemic, every citizen is either a doctor or a philosopher with a groundbreaking theory rolled up his or hersleeve.
We, the people, could not spend one Eid staying indoors and without rushing to markets for shopping. The end of the lockdown in itself was celebrated by most like Eid. The last ten days of Ramadan, we were let loose after weeks of captivity. We left no stone unturned to meet and greet each other, catch up on the clothes shopping and generally socialize with people. With the end of the lockdown, the coronavirus was over for us therefore, we thronged to public places including mosques, because how could one catch a virus in the House of God, right?
Turns out, while Imran Khan shares a heavy burden for putting us in the situation we are currently in, we, ourselves, have rushed towards this situation eagerly and willingly. The heavier burden was on the general populace to tackle the pandemic as a united nation. However, wearing a mask and washing our hands in itself is a hefty task for us, let alone complying with all the SOPs. They say everyone gets what they deserve. It appears to be true in our case. While we continue to profit on the lives of people and play upon the anxieties of the citizens, we continue to seek Divine help which would put is out of our misery soon. We offer prayers with the same contentment even though the grains churning in our stomach have been earned by selling our souls.
We, the people, are equally responsible for the alarming situation in our country and till such time that we are not prepared to step up and mend our ways, the situation doesn’t appear to be getting better anytime soon. Similarly, in the eyes of most past supporters, Imran Khan has not only been a disappointment but rather a disaster for this country.