KARACHI: Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that federal ministers keep ‘unnecessarily’ criticising the Sindh government and misleading the people, compelling the ministers of the Sindh government to respond to them to tell people the truth.
“On our response it is said that we are creating controversy even though we do not have any such intension,” the provincial information minister said in a statement issued here.
“We have been saying since day one when the first case of coronavirus emerged that we do not want to get involved in point scoring or in blame game. It is time to take immediate steps and decisions to save lives.”
He said that since February 26, on directives of chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the chief minister of Sindh had been in constant touch with the prime minister and had been taking whatever steps or decisions necessary to save people’s lives.
The Sindh minister said that ‘untimely and baseless’ criticism from the federal ministers and federal spokespersons spoiled the whole environment.
He said that this was unacceptable for the federal spokespersons and ministers that how the media was ‘praising’ the Sindh government for its good work.
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that if the proposal of the Sindh government had been accepted and two complete lockdowns of 15 days had been implemented, the situation could have been completely different today.
Long battle
The minister said the ongoing battle against the coronavirus was now a long one that could last for months.
“People will now have to live their lives according to a certain way of life,” he said.
The provincial information minister said that if businesses were allowed to open, the businessmen would be allowed to operate under a special standard operating procedure.
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah revealed that more than 225 children had been infected with coronavirus in Sindh so far.
“This is a very dangerous situation which could be even more dangerous if we are not careful,” the minister added.
“The Sindh government has never tried to take credit for being the first government to take effective measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.”
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said whatever name the federal government wanted to give to the lockdown, the Sindh government would not mind, but it was time to adopt all necessary measures immediately to stop the spread of coronavirus to save lives.
He said that if the Sindh government had any information regarding the rapid spread of the coronavirus in any district, then not only the number of tests would have been increased in that particular district, but all the necessary precautions would also have been taken immediately.
He claimed that the provinces did not get the support they should have received from the federation.
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that chairman of PPP Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had also requested in his press conference to support all provinces and not just Sindh.
The provincial information minister said that the provinces were taking all possible steps to stop the spread of coronavirus, but the federal government was not doing so.
“When it is said by the prime minister that some ‘elites’ have decided about the lockdown, then who will follow it or what kind of message will go to the common man.”
The provincial information minister said that the constant release of such messages from Prime Minister House was not only unfortunate, but might also prove detrimental to the efforts.
He clarified that the Sindh government also cared about the poor people and daily wage earners, adding that the Sindh government was taking all necessary steps to save lives of these people in the light of the advice of medical experts.
