Pakistan saved by Sindh govt’s timely steps: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that PPP’s first priority is to save the lives of the people but through a conspiracy the efforts of Sindh government are being sabotaged.

“Sindh government is working on the guidelines given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and due to timely measures taken by the Sindh government, Pakistan was saved from turning into Wuhan, Italy and New York,” he said while addressing a video conference of PPP information secretaries.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that other provinces also followed Sindh to protect their people. “PPP is ready to give every sacrifice for the people,” he said.

He said that the federal government has not done anything for the daily wage workers.

Bilawal said that the federal government did not provide facilities to doctors, nurses and paramedical staff.” It is the responsibility of the federal government to help provinces,” he said.

Sarbuland Khan briefing the PPP chairman said that Balochistan lacks test kits. Rubina Khalid said that doctors lost their lives in the line of duty because they were not provided protective gear. Hasan Murtaza informed the chairman that people of Punjab are crying for medical facilities. Sadia Danish apprised the chairman of lack of doctors protective and testing kits in Gilgit Baltistan. Javed Ayub said that the federal government has totally ignored Azad Kashmir.

The meeting was attended by Moula Bux Chandio, Dr Nafisa Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Chaudhry Manzoor, Ch Munawwar Anjum, Palwasha Khan, Saeed Ghani, Hasan Murtaza, Aajiz Dhamra, Sarbuland Khan, Nawabzada Iftikhar, Rubina Khalid, Sadia Danish, Javed Ayub, Nasir Shah, Barrister Amir Hasan, Sassi Palijo, Saher Kamran and Nazir Dhoki.

Meanwhile, Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Senator Syed Shibli Faraz said the government of Sindh was free to take a decision on whether or not to opt for lockdown, asking why questions were raised at the federal government on this count.

In a statement, issued here, the minister asked Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh government not to blame the federal government for their failures and focus on controlling the coronavirus instead of playing politics on this matter.

He pointed out that Bilawal Bhutto and Sindh provincial ministers holding lengthy news conferences instead. He emphasised that the opposition should support the prime minister in the fight against the virus instead of doing politics.

The minister claimed the aid given by the federal government to Sindh was exposing Bilawal Bhutto’s ignorance. He noted that 45,000 Sindh industries and 0.717 million commercial consumers were given relief in payment in electricity bills.

He added that small businesses were also given the same facility to pay bills and people of Sindh benefit like other parts of the country through utility stores.

He continued that the State Bank of Pakistan's deferred scheme for payment of loan installments would also be applied in Sindh. The Rs1.2 trillion stimulus package would be distributed among the federating units, including Sindh.

The minister said that under the Ehsaas Cash Emergency Programme, Rs27 billion had been given away in Sindh so far from the Centre, besides supply of 504,447 face masks, 290,986 surgical masks, 30,142 N-95, 203,840 KN-95 masks and 148,334 protective suits.

Small traders and business owners have been given a facility package to pay their workers' salaries, Senator Shibli Faraz said.

The equipment, he noted, provided includes 77,992 testing kits, 200 thermal guns, 25,000 VTM and PCR machines. Moreover, the federal government has provided a large number of hand-sanitizers, handwash, soup chemical sprays, bio-hazard bags, safety boxes and body bags.

He advised Bilawal not to play with the national coherence and unity just for the sake of survival in politics.

Earlier, the PPP leadership on Saturday took the PTI-led government to task over its "non-seriousness" and the resultant "delayed" response to the prevailing coronavirus crisis in the country.

It marked the second day in a row the party criticised the federal government over its handling of the crisis. Yesterday, party chairman Bilawal Bhutto lamented the non-provision of protective gear to medical workers and censured the government for "sabotaging" efforts for national unity.

Pakistan has recorded over 18,500 infections with most of them, 7,102, in Sindh. 432 people have so far succumbed to COVID-19 across the country.