‘If govt decided to relax lockdown, it would start with places of worship’

Sindh Minister for Information, Religious Affairs and Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said the mosques and other places of worship will be the first public places in the province where the lockdown restrictions will be relaxed, if the government takes the decision to ease lockdown in Sindh after April 14.

In a statement issued on Friday, he said even if the lockdown rules are relaxed for the mosques and other places of worship in the coming days, elderly persons and children should not go there.

On behalf of the Sindh government, Shah immensely thanked all those people of Sindh who observed the lockdown orders on Friday from 12pm till 3pm. He said imposing restrictions on the congregational prayers and Friday prayers was indeed a painful decision on the part of the Sindh government but it had to be taken as a last resort to protect the people from the novel coronavirus.

The Sindh government had duly consulted religious scholars and Ulema belonging to different schools of thought before announcing restrictions on the congregational prayers, the information minister claimed. He added that the Ulema had supported such precautionary steps of the provincial government for the prevention of the local spread of COVID-19. According to Shah, the Sindh government had not imposed the lockdown to make the people miserable but the regime had to be implemented to protect their lives from the pandemic.

He appealed to the people to fully comply with the directives and restrictions imposed by the government and realise that the country was passing through challenging times due to the spread of the viral disease.

He said the government required full cooperation of the people in its fight against COVID-19. The people must ensure social distancing to eliminate this viral ailment, he added.

The information minister vowed that the provincial government would do its level best to provide food rations to the needy people at their doorstep during the lockdown. He said notable personalities, religious scholars, welfare organisations, charities and social activists were being involved in the rations’ distribution process to carry it out in an expeditious and transparent manner. He said the Sindh government would not leave the needy people high and dry during these testing times of the COVID-19 lockdown.