Action to be taken if people don’t follow lockdown orders, warns info minister

Sindh Minister for Information and Local Government Nasir Hussain Shah has said that although the directives have been issued to the law-enforcement agencies to treat the people gently, the people should also follow the government’s directives regarding the lockdown and cooperate with security personnel.

A handout issued on Friday quoted him as saying that if people ignored the directives issued by the government regarding the lockdown, then there was no other way except for taking action against them in accordance with the law.

He said the decision of the lockdown had been taken by the Sindh government in a state of utmost compulsion, adding that the people should not consider it a curfew; rather, it was “care for you”, indeed.

By staying at their homes, people could protect not only themselves but their families and others from being infected with caronavirus, the minister said. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah was not only extremely worried, but he was also taking all the necessary decisions swiftly to protect people from being affected by the disease, he added.

He said the chief minister had repeatedly made it clear that the government did not want to adopt any drastic measures, but owing to the presence of some lawless and careless people, if the government needed to adopt more drastic measures to prevent the spread of caronavirus, it would not hesitate to do so.

The information minister said the government was very concerned about people working on daily wages before taking drastic measures, and for them they were making arrangements to provide rations at their homes with the help of welfare oeganisations. He said that without the help of these welfare organisations delivering rations to every needy person was a difficult task indeed, if not impossible.

The minister stated that Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was also very concerned about the distribution of rations among the needy and was creating awareness among the people about the caronavirus, and he had also asked the chief minister in this

regard.

He said that in the light of the PPP chairman’s instructions, the chief minister was busy taking necessary steps and adopting all the right measures day and night to reach to every single needy person in these testing times. He said the chief minister was presiding over meetings with the concerned institutions and individuals on a daily basis, adding that these meetings discussed in detail what course of action should be adopted to prevent the spread of caronavirus and to provide the people with rations at their doorsteps.

The information minister said that in order to create awareness amongst the people regarding the spread of caronavirus, the PPP chairman had formed an awareness committee comprising senior members of the PPP. He said that he had also been included in the mass awareness committee for which he thanked Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for showing confidence in him.

He said that this committee would make sure adoption of every possible necessary measure to create awareness amongst the masses. Shah said that the response of the people of the province to the appeal of the PPP chairman to stay at home as well as to the emergency actions and directives of the chief minister was also highly commendable