PTI asks Sindh govt to reassess its strategy to fight coronavirus

Asking Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to leave his "world of pipe dreams", a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader has demanded of him to take solid and practical steps to save precious lives of coronavirus patients on the one hand and save the starving families of jobless daily-wage earners on the other.

On the behalf of PTI members of the Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh, the party’s parliamentary leader in the provincial legislature, wrote a letter to the chief minister on Wednesday, saying that the 11th day of the lockdown had passed and people had been pushed to the brink.

He said millions were promised rations at their doorsteps, but as of today the Sindh government had not distributed a single bag of ration. “The daily-wage earners of the province and those living near and below the poverty line are struggling to feed their families, and you have failed to even try to meet their needs.”

Sheikh, who is also a central vice president of his party, said the entire world was facing a crisis, and Pakistan, already being resource-scarce, had been badly hit by the virus. The province saw its first case on February 26 and the provincial government immediately became very proactive, and that was sincerely appreciated by everyone, he said.

“Everyone was ready to work together. In a meeting held under the chairmanship of the Sindh governor, we alongside various national institutions vowed to stand by the Sindh government and fight alongside,” he said. “Unfortunately, no joint committee to take decisions was formed or even our point of view was not considered, which we believe was against the spirit we demonstrated.”

“When the first coronavirus case in Sindh emerged on Feb 26, your cabinet started taking decisions such as the closing of all educational institutions, marriage halls, shopping malls, public parks, entertainment facilities, public transport, closure of government offices and more. The media and the people of Sindh appreciated this proactivity, and frankly, so did we,” Sheikh said in his letter.

As the situation started to evolve, things took a turn for the worse. “The first big test was Sukkur, which unfortunately wasn’t managed adequately. There was massive mismanagement, which eventually resulted in various protests and people who initially tested negative are testing positive now. Even with a decision to allocate all resources at your command to combat this pandemic, the results did not come as expected; your government was unable to control the situation.”

As things started to get worse, the Sindh government recommended a lockdown. “We didn’t think a lockdown was feasible; as it’s easier for those who are privileged to stay at home but daily-wage earners and those below the poverty line were bound to suffer massively. The Prime Minister cautioned the whole nation that our resources were not the same as the developed world; therefore, we should be cautious in our decision-making. He had asked that all times in all decision-making we should look at the welfare of those who are poor and underprivileged.”

Shiekh said that they still agreed to a lockdown, because the Sindh government seemed to have a plan which was presented to us in a meeting with all relevant stakeholders at the CM House. “Your cabinet members presented an agreeable plan, which included two very important points: (a) all suspected patients will have access to an emergency number, which they could call and be tested at home. You ensured that on Sindh government’s resources both government and private hospitals will provide these at-home services. (b) Sindh government will feed 2 million families affected by the lockdown, by sending them Rs.3,000 each, through easy paisa or other similar mechanisms.”

But unfortunately, he said, the ground situation was very scary. “No hospitals are doing tests at home. Not just that, even getting tested at the hospitals is very difficult for the people. However, only the VVIPs have access to testing facilities at their doors and have been tested multiple times,” he wrote in the letter.

The Sindh government announced it would feed two million families by giving Rs3,000 to each family, which meant a total of six billion rupees to be distributed amongst the needy. However, the PTI leader said, the Sindh government failed to even establish a committee for these distributions, and when it did establish a mechanism it announced a release of Rs580 million, he said.

“Simple math tells us that 580 million between two million families is Rs290 per family for 15 days, which amounts to Rs 19.33 per day. How is that enough for people to sustain themselves? The people would like to know when these funds will be distributed to the people. The anxiety level is increasing every day and their concerns have to be addressed immediately,” he wrote.

The letter also said that not only is the money allocated to date insufficient, but the whole mechanism for distribution has also been politicised.

He said. “In our meetings, you stressed on establishing a neutral and depoliticized mechanism of distribution. Chief Secretary Sindh released a notification which in theory was neutral as it included the following members: representative of the deputy commissioner, UC Chairman, Chairman of Local Zakat Committee, representative of a prominent NGO, notable of respective UC and prominent female social worker.

"However, in practice this idea of neutrality vanished. An example of this is UC-31 of my constituency, where the UC Chairman and Zakat Chairman are of course from PPP, but the notable from the community, the NGO representative, the female social worker — all from PPP, with no affiliations to any NGO or the community. The individual who was shown as the representative from Selani Trust, was actually PPP worker who Selani denied had any affiliations with. Similarly, all over Sindh with the committees that have been formed, transparency has not been maintained on the district level committees."

Shiekh said: “If the lockdown was supposed to curb the spread, it should have been coupled with an adequate amount of testing. However, even after receiving kits from NDMA and other sources, the health department has failed to carry out the much-needed tests at the required pace in Sindh,” the letter said.

He told CM Shah that his party was ready to work with the government and support its policies. However, he recommended that the government should reassess its preparedness level and the mechanisms that had been created. “We understand this is a national crisis and we all need to get serious. I am hoping that you take my concerns seriously and right the wrongs moving forward.”