Sindh govt seeks judicial probe into CM Murad Ali Shah’s claim about COVID-19 deaths

The Sindh government has demanded that a judicial commission be formed to look into the controversial statement of its own chief minister that deaths in the province due to COVID-19 may be higher than the official figures.

The CM had based his claim on the information that hospitals in Karachi had been reporting sudden deaths of critically ill patients who had not been confirmed novel coronavirus cases but whose symptoms were markedly that of the deadly virus.

The demand for a judicial investigation into the chief executive’s claim was made by Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah during a news conference on Thursday. He said that forming of a judicial commission was necessary to ascertain the facts behind the CM’s recent statement. Shah said that the proposed judicial body would also help ascertain the truth about the allegations levelled against the CM by his political opponents with regard to his manner of tackling the COVID-19 crisis in the province.

He said the provincial government had waived off taxes of the Sindh Revenue Board and the excise & taxation department payable by the small traders in view of their serious economic woes due to the continuing lockdown.

“We have been trying to get interest-free loans for these small traders. We have also asked the federal government to waive off or reschedule their loans because the Centre should offer them tax exemptions as well.”

He assured the small traders that the provincial government was serious about allowing them to reopen their businesses, which was why the standard operating procedures (SOPs) had been devised, but any such decision had been deferred to slow down the spread of the virus.

He claimed that certain quarters were behind the unlawful act of the small traders the other day that led to their arrest, as they had defied the government’s lockdown orders and had unlawfully attempted to reopen their shops.

He appealed to religious scholars and Ulema to review their decision of reopening the mosques for congregational prayers and once more play their part in the government’s efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

He said the public had observed the lockdown orders to a large extent, adding that such an exemplary conduct of the masses was due to the cooperation of Ulema and religious scholars who had asked the people to comply with the government’s restrictions on public life to protect their own health.

Talks with Ulema

Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani, who was also present on the occasion, said the provincial government had once again been consulting with Ulema to find a middle ground on the issue of congregational prayers in mosques in view of the serious reservations of senior doctors.

Ghani said they were trying to devise such a mechanism that on the one hand would help the people uphold their religious traditions, while on the other, would also allay the reservations of doctors to a large extent.

“However, we stick to the decisions made a few days ago during a meeting between Pakistan’s president and Ulema on the issue of congregational prayers.”

The minister said the Sindh government did not get any benefit out of its decision of shutting down businesses, but such a harsh step had been taken only to protect the people’s health.

He said the provincial administration had been taking steps in view of its foremost priority, which was to safeguard the health of the masses against the threat of the coronavirus.

He hoped that sanity would prevail and the traders would not take any step to challenge the writ of the government to further deteriorate the situation in the province. He said that SOPs devised by the ministerial committee for the reopening of shops had been submitted to the CM, and the National Coordination Committee on COVID-19 would make the final decision in the matter.

He lamented the uncalled-for incident that occurred the previous day when small traders were rounded up by the police as they attempted to reopen their shops as an act of defiance of the government’s lockdown orders.