By: Sajjad Hussain Nekokara
A major indicator to assess the development of the country is to check the safety and security of its citizens. It is the primary duty of a state to protect the lives of its citizens. Recently, the whole world is suffering from a pandemic “COVID-19”.There is a grim situation across the world. As said by Secretary-General of UN António Guterres ”The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war. Till this time when I am quoting the numbers, there have been nearly 1,363,385 novel coronavirus cases and over 76,380 deaths worldwide with 4,010 cases within Pakistan. The virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity. Sadly, the blames are being heaped on each other at international level in this grim situation. The situation should compel world leaders like US President Donald Trump to demonstrate leadership instead of escalating tensions. In this situation, unity is the need of the hour because the only solution is to make a collective effort to grapple with this daunting challenge.
There should be a national action plan by the government to meet the challenge of coronavirus.
As compared to developed world, where health care system is efficient, the priorities of less developed countries lie somewhere other than saving lives of people. Sadly, developed countries have also hopelessly failed to contain corona virus. It is a big challenge for countries like Pakistan with pathetic health system to combat against the virus. In this backdrop, countries like Pakistan have too pathetic health system to combat this deadly virus. In these testing times, taking the virus lightly would be the blunder of century.
However, making light of this grim situation would be a great blunder. It is very sad and tragic that Pakistan’s government and society do not take appropriate measures to preserve the life of its citizens. In order to face this grim situation, we need sensible efforts. Unfortunately, people are sharing foolish and vain things related to corona-virus on social media. People are not making sense of this grave situation, they are not following the government’s order to stay at home to avoid the unnecessary movements. There is a lack of awareness about the diseases and certain unhygienic social practices that have led to a spike in the number of confirmed corona-virus patients.
As far as the challenges of the virus are concerned, it can leave the countries like Pakistan in tatters. Pakistan’s economy is already passing through testing times. Corona-virus can further exacerbate the situation. Pakistan’s stock exchange is witnessing a historical low. It is also a challenge for law enforcement agencies. People of Italy reportedly didn’t take the government’s order seriously and still, they are bearing the brunt of this lethargic and poor act. It is also a sad reality that daily wagers in Pakistan cannot survive for a long time under the lockdown situation. On the educational front, the impacts are irreversible because the idea of online classes cannot succeed in Pakistan due to poor availability of internet. Students from Baluchistan and some from the remote areas in KPK and Sindh would particularly be affected by the closure of educational institutes.
No battle can be won without uniting the nation and taking all stakeholders on board. Similarly, quick and consensual action is needed to deal with massive challenge arising out of the COVID-19 situation. It requires a much greater effort and more resources. There should be a national action plan by the government to meet the challenge of coronavirus. The government should enforce its orders in an efficient way for the safety and security of citizens. Media can also play its proactive role to educate people to focus on its cure and safety. It may educate the citizens to take appropriate measures to cure it. There is a need to translate the vision of the government into action. In the end, it is hoped that the government will facilitate the people in a safe and fast way. There should be a zero-tolerance policy on the safety and security of its citizens. The government must show some responsibility and civil society must play its productive role to aware the people of the destabilizing impacts of this crisis.
The writer is a lawyer, he can be reached at +92 304 6881849.