Battle Corona

Pakistan has gone through a number of wars and serious natural disasters like floods and earthquakes and we survived. We even survived the loss of East Pakistan. Without doubt, the Pakistani nation has a lot of resilience, developed over decades of hardships. It is the leadership which has let down these hardy people, time and again. I am not sure how and when will we acquire honest and wise leadership, but this is not an issue we need to address today.

Today our focus is on a very serious crisis, the coronavirus pandemic which can literally destroy us from within. Before we discuss Covid-19, a few words on the state of the nation would be in order. Needless to say, today we are a very weak nation. Our economy is in a bad shape and we live on borrowed money; governance is not a shadow of what it was even on our birth; law and order was better in the fifties; we have not been able to control our population nor improved public education. Institutions like the railways and our canal system the backbone of our economy are in a bad shape. Public health facilities have grown in size over the years but are hollow. This is the country that Imran Khan took over; and unfortunately his performance has also been wanting. This is when the Covid-19 pandemic crash-lands in the Land of the Pure.

We are battling the virus with what we had and what we have been able to acquire in the past few days and weeks; additional resources continue to be acquired, literally on an hour to hour basis from abroad. This has happened despite an untested leadership, poor governance, totally inadequate public health facilities and above all with very limited finances.

In fact, fighting a pandemic of this scale is far more difficult than fighting a war. To fight a war even countries like Pakistan have a well-organized, well equipped and well-trained military force with a supportive logistic infrastructure. The military also has well considered war plans based on assessment about the enemy. Covid-19, on the other hand, has hit us with almost zero warning; even the National Disaster Management Agency was caught off guard.

We are now entering a phase of the battle where the pandemic offensive is likely to grow at a faster rate and that too on a broader canvas, encompassing our rural areas and our slums. The virus battle is evolving and our plans to fight this pandemic will also need to be modified on a continuing basis. The only thing which will not change is our ultimate objective/aim; which is to defeat the pandemic and save the lives of our people.

I would agree with critics of the Imram Khan government that it has not performed well in various fields since they took over. However, today they are at the helm and not doing too badly in fighting 'Battle Corona'. They have committed mistakes and they will surely make some more but the trajectory of their defensive strategy is positive and offensive. We as a nation need to

present a unified front against this common and deadly enemy, and not become a bickering nation of wannabe leaders. Our best bet in this hour of need is to follow our present government and support them. Unfortunately, there is no other alternative at this point of time.

Listening to talk shows on the army of TV channels and reading the daily print media is a painful experience. Doctors, political commentators, lawyers, soldiers, diplomats, rejected political leaders, journalists and God know who else are holding forth on how to lead this war. My barber too is dying to get on telly and educate Imran Khan. We as a nation are almost all potential leaders and very poor followers.

The good news is that all state institutions are supporting the Imran government in their almost impossible effort to defeat this pandemic. In my assessment, the best option for the Pakistani nation is to help the government and follow their guidelines in support of this battle. Political opponents and soulless opportunists are advised to bury the hatchet for the time being and reopen their anti-Imran offensive after we have dealt with our common enemy. The need of the hour is unity.

The writer is a former national security adviser.