Minister urges people to follow SOPs on coronavirus

LANDIKOTAL: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri on Sunday urged the people to follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Talking to The News, he said that everyone should cooperate with the cops to effectively implement the lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic. Qadri said he would offer the Taraweeh prayers at home with his family members to follow the SOPs in letter and spirit.

He added that everyone must strictly observe social distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The minister said conditional permission had been granted to offer Taraweeh prayers in mosques but the government would revoke it if the 20-point precautionary measures agreed during a meeting between President Arif Alvi and some of the leading clerics of the country last week were not properly implemented by mosque authorities across the country.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and may revoke the decision if the spread of the coronavirus continues or the 20-point action plan was not implemented in letter and spirit,” he maintained. He said it was not the time for political point-scoring rather all political parties should focus on the one-point agenda to save the lives of the citizens. “We unanimously agreed on the 20-point action plan. Out of these, the first 17 relate to the health safety standards approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Institute of Health (NIH),” he continued. Qadri said that the 18th point in the list categorically stated that the permission was conditional and mosques should formulate committees for the implementation of the SOPs with the help of local administration.

“The federal and provincial authorities will ensure that mosques are disinfected and carpets are removed. They will also support the mosque committees in all possible ways,” he maintained. However, he admitted said it was a difficult task due to the high number of mosques in the country, but it was not impossible to implement the action plan under the prevailing circumstances.

“Our religion has provided many relaxations for a crisis-like situation the one we are facing these days. I have also asked my family members to offer prayers at home. I lead the Taraweeh prayer and we observe social distancing at home as well,” he noted. On Hajj 2020, Qadri said the Saudi government was striving hard to proceed with Hajj this year, but the situation all over the world was difficult due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the Saudi authorities would be able to announce their decision by the end of Ramazan. “One option is to allow 10 percent of the people to perform Hajj this year by observing social distancing and taking other safety measures but even that seems difficult since 10 percent make up 300,000 people,” the minister said.