‘Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance’. One wonders if he were alive today, how eloquently Bernard Shaw would have described these dystopian times and the leading personalities showcasing a combination of these two traits.
Unfortunately for those of us still present, the characters leading us are anything but fictional – dystopian as they may still be – and their ignorance and false knowledge is leading us down a path of impending disaster.
How else would you describe a situation where a country’s leadership decides to dump the burden of responsibility on its conspiracy-theory loving and sceptical citizenry in the face of the most fatal global pandemic in a century?
At a time when Pakistan was beginning to enter a period of exponential growth in Covid-19 infections, the government, in its infinite wisdom, decided to lift all pretences of a lockdown. As a result, a public already weary of the obfuscation and mixed messaging, decided to throw all caution to the wind; malls thronged with shoppers, mosques overflowed with worshippers, and social gatherings returned with a vengeance – SOPs and social distancing be damned.
If there’s one thing this government has been consistent at, (apart from its consistently dismal performance across all sectors) it has been its infuriating ability to deflect all blame and forsake responsibility. Is the economy in bad shape? That’s because of corrupt (civilian) predecessors. Are the underprivileged being denied their rights? Blame the ubiquitous mafia. Are efforts to control the virus proving to be disastrous? Ah well, what can we do if people don’t follow our instructions.
But this time, the government has nowhere to hide, and no one to blame but itself.
Ever since news regarding the breakout of this novel coronavirus became common knowledge, Imran Khan has made no secret of his opposition to any kind of lockdown. Every single decision made by his government since his first speech on the subject in the middle of March has only resulted in mass confusion, ambivalence and, ultimately, denial of any life-threatening danger.
We have been told that lockdowns are not the solution. But no one argued that they provided a solution; lockdowns are meant to reduce the burden on an already creaking health system, and ‘flatten the curve’ of cases that would otherwise overwhelm our hospitals. They have been implemented with varying degrees of success in a number of countries, as governments simultaneously opted for smart testing, targeted lockdowns and coordinated national action plans.
None of that was on display here. What we were burdened with instead was the ridiculing of the one provincial government where the PTI is not in power and which, for a change, was being commended for doing its job. We were also stuck with muddied messaging; half-truths; and an attempt to underplay the impact of the pandemic.
We were also told that lockdowns adversely impact the poor. Fair enough. But the last time I checked, rushing into malls and shopping centres was never high on the list of priorities for the destitute. A praise-worthy initiative was launched through the programme formerly known as BISP, but questions have been raised regarding its transparency and – subsequent to the preliminary (and typically for this government) photo-op worthy handouts – its sustainability.
We were also told that we are a poor country and cannot afford to implement lockdowns on a scale comparable to the more developed Western countries. But why be so facetious when there are successful examples of tackling this virus in our neighbourhood? With a few hundred cases and no reported deaths, Vietnam has dealt with Covid-19 better than most states, despite – just like Pakistan – sharing a border with China, having an equally dilapidated health sector and a high-density population. The Indian state of Kerala is another example where clear-headed leadership took control of the outbreak through rigorous testing and tracing, while simultaneously implementing lockdowns to stem the spread of the virus.
We were also told that even Western states are abandoning the idea of implementing lockdowns as they realised that they aren’t sustainable. But not only is this ‘lives versus livelihoods’ debate fallacious, this is just another example of the government peddling half-truths. All these Western countries are only beginning to slowly remove lockdowns, and that too after crossing their peak number of cases. We are arguably the only country in the world hell-bent on removing all restrictions while cases are still exponentially increasing.
What is perhaps most ironic though, is that in our government’s supposed keenness to not emulate the actions of wealthy Western countries such as the US and Great Britain in combating this virus, Imran Khan is behaving in exactly the same manner as their leaders. In fact, what is common among all countries led by populist leaders at this time is their carefree attitude. Their trivialising of the pandemic’s impact exposes the sheer depth of their ignorance and myopia. And their insincere messaging has aggravated the scale of the disaster, with many people now proudly claiming that all of this is just a hoax.
With the man at the helm so oblivious to the danger, it is no wonder that his acolytes march to the same beat. One provincial governor, despite having contracted the virus, calls it ‘no worse than a flu’. Another minister, touted as the party’s genius and heralder of brighter days for our country’s economy, presented the blatantly ill-informed comparison between the number of deaths caused by car accidents and those from the virus. Someone forgot to inform this corporate-sector guru that car accidents are not contagious. They also do not increase at an exponential rate.
There is a crisis of leadership, at a time when clear and decisive action is most desperately required. The result is not that Pakistanis are sceptical about the threat of the virus – they always were – it’s that now they are firm in their belief that it does not exist. What is most unfortunate is that someone who was touted by his supporters as being a more humane, considerate and morally superior leader as compared to the corrupt pretenders of the past, has turned out to be as compromised as some predicted.
With the country reeling from the twin horror of an alarming rise in Covid-19 cases and the horrendous plane crash just before Eid, our PM is said to have decided to head off for a vacation in the cooler climes of Nathia Gali. The job of performing perfunctory solidarity with the victims’ families was left to lesser mortals in government. Meanwhile, the rest of the country is advised to watch Turkish dramas glorifying inaccurate history.
If this is the change that was promised, then Pakistanis have been severely short-changed.
The writer works as a development practitioner for a local consultancy.
Twitter: ShahrukhNR